


You Can't Stop Us Now

by eliiiwhyyy



Series: Summoners and Familiars AU [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Again, Alternate Universe, Bullying, But Nothing Too Bad, Everyone is also half animal beware, Everything is mentioned, Except he's also hella weak, Fluff and Angst, He's aware of everything, How to tag lmfao, Huge mentions of music, Light Angst, M/M, Modern music too, Multi, No Smut, Not explicity though, Quite a lot of daddy issues on Tsuna's end, Sarcastic Tsuna, Shes not shipped with him at all, Slight depressing/suicidal undertones, Slight omegaverse themes, Smart Sawada Tsunayoshi, Smart Tsuna, Summoning, The female oc does play quite a big role but I'll make it more about Tsuna, Theres not any ships really unless I change my mind, This will follow the canon plot but with a few changes obviously, Trigger warnings are added to chapters, Warnings May Change, lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2019-10-07 06:09:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17360486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliiiwhyyy/pseuds/eliiiwhyyy
Summary: ((The title is probably subject to change))In a world of summoners and familiars, Useless Tsuna is considered the weakest summoner to live, and is both without friends and familiars and bullied relentlessly. He's seemingly given up on life, unless a certain Raven-hitman can change that.





	1. Raven

**Author's Note:**

> This is just something I'm playing around with. I'm really uploading this for my own enjoyment and dont mind who reads it or who hates it. I have a rule that I'm now breaking, lmao, that I don't ever put my own characters into stories unless I'm in need of a filler character (like in my other story 'These Mutant Kids') but even then they don't play too much of a role. 
> 
> This character, however, probably won't come in until chapter three of four and while she'll play a big role, she's not going to be shipped with anyone unless people want her to be. I'll give more information if people want it. 
> 
> Also Tsuna may be a bit ooc in this story. I'm writing him as a smart and sarcastic dude, who is 100% aware of what his dad is doing. It makes things more fun! However he also does have the "I can't do anything because I'm weak and I get bullied" attitude for majority of the fic until Reborn manages to get him out of that mindset.
> 
> This story is also something I'm 100% winging. It'll follow the canon storyline to what I remember, but with some tweaks added. There will be no Mukuro Arc, but something else will replace it eventually. This will be a slow-burn (hopefully, I tend to rush things bc I get bored super easily). I'll also be aiming for long-ass chapters too so I might introduce a new character every chapter, or have a new character befriend Tsuna every chapter (like Yamamoto, who gets introduced early on but doesnt actually become friends with Tsuna until after Gokudera appears).
> 
> ALSO this will be FULL ENGLISH. I don't like using broken Japanese in stories, and that includes honorifics. I've written another KHR fic which you can locate on my profile, and I did the same thing. Full English, no broken Japanese.
> 
> Feel free to translate this story and reupload it, but please ask permission before doing so, and credit me on your story! I'd also appreciate a link back to this story but it's not necessary. Also feel free to draw fanart for this story but again please credit me!
> 
> I'll stop talking now and let you get on with the story, cheers for reading!

Useless. Dumb. Loner. Freak.

 

These were the words young Tsuna had heard for the past few years while he’s attended Nami-Mori high school. He’s not sure what he did to earn the harsh treatment that he gets, but he knows that the words are true. In this world you were born as either a summoner, or a familiar, and Tsuna’s not sure if he was born as either. Though there are normal humans that exist, his entire family has been summoners, and both his parents had been very strong summoners (though his mother only has one familiar, and he doesn’t know his father too well at all). 

 

Though he fights off the remarks and bullying with a smile, it lingers in the back of his mind that shines through when he’s alone. In fact, Tsuna himself could have higher grades but he stopped trying when the bullying started, and now he barely passes his classes. Though he understands what the teacher is teaching and could be getting higher grades, he just doesn’t care enough.

 

All these thoughts swirled around his head as Tsuna droned out his maths teacher. It was stuff he already knew, but he wasn’t going to get a high grade on the work so he didn’t really care. He would have fallen asleep, but he still wanted to tune in a little bit in case his teacher had something important to say. 

 

“...nd don’t forget that on Friday we have our monthly Summoner Fight and that you need at least one familiar to be able to participate in,” the teacher said, completing the lesson for the day. “Of course that’s not an issue for most people, but just remember the rules.”

 

Tsuna let out an almost incoherent sigh, packing up his books into his bag when the bell rang. He probably wouldn’t ever be able to participate in the fight, but he wasn’t entirely sure that he wanted to either.

 

“Still not going to join, Sawada?” a sharp voice sounded to his right, and he jerked up to find himself staring at Hana Kurokawa, a fellow summoner and one of the only people in the school who was friends with him. Of course, he had her to thank for how smart he had gotten as she had spent the past two years tutoring him.

 

(Though she still gets pissed whenever she hears that he’s still not trying in class.) 

 

Tsuna got over his slight shock, cursing himself for zoning out when he should have felt her presence, and instead gave her a small smile. “Let me just round up my hidden familiars so that I can join in a school event where people just hurt each other,” he snarked back at her.

 

Hana let out a laugh at that, small yet effective. She rarely laughed but being friends with Tsuna had let her loosen up a bit, she loved his wit when he was around her and Kyoko.

 

Speaking of Kyoko, the girl had run up to the two of them as they were leaving the classroom. Kyoko was Hana’s familiar, a small girl who was half fox. She stood at the same height as Tsuna, who was short for his age and gender, but both were considerably shorter than Hana. Kyoko had become Hana’s familiar over three years ago when they became best friends, and the two were inseparable. She specialised mainly in healing and didn’t have it in her to fight or hurt anyone, so she and Hana sat out of the duels every time. 

 

“Kyoko, did you end up finishing the assignment we had due for history?” Hana asked the smaller girl, moving so she was standing on the other side of Tsuna, with Kyoko standing to the left of him.

 

“Ah, yes! I eventually got it done, Tsuna and I got it done yesterday when you were sick,” the fox smiled, linking her arm with Tsuna’s as he smiled back at her. “He helped me with most of it, it was hard to write about.”

 

Hana rolled her eyes fondly, looking over at the boy who kept his eyes ahead, even though he knew she was looking at him. When Tsuna had started hanging out with the two girls instead of being by himself all the time, rumours had spread that he and Kyoko were dating because she often held his arm or hand, or had her head on his shoulder. Hana didn’t really know why those rumours had spread though, Kyoko and Tsuna were both affectionate people by nature and did it simply for comfort, and Hana noticed that Kyoko was often calmed by his presence, which is part of the reason why she started to trust the boy. 

 

“Why don’t you apply that knowledge in class, Sawada? You could shut up that old cow of a teacher and all the idiots with how smart you are,” Hana decided to say as they made their way to the roof where they usually ate.

 

Tsuna shrugged, holding the door open for them both. “They’d still make fun of the fact that I don’t really fit in, me being smart doesn’t really change much,” he sighed following them both out onto the roof.

 

Kyoko sat down first with her food in front of her, and Hana made herself comfortable across from her. “Which is why you’re a monkey, just like the others,” Hana scoffed as Tsuna joined them, making Kyoko giggle. 

 

Tsuna let out a laugh at that, his eyes genuinely lighting up at that. “You still like me more though,” he grinned cheekily, avoiding a well aimed hit to the head from Hana.

 

“Tsuna’s passing at least,” Kyoko chimed in, managing to stop the argument before it could begin. Tsuna and Hana had a habit of getting into heated debates, and while they were healthy and friendly arguments, she knew that the two would never eat if an argument started up. Speaking of food… “Tsuna, why don’t you have food?”

 

That made the other two pause, and the boy put on a sheepish look while Hana’s eyes darkened in suspicion. “I… forgot it?” Tsuna tried, flinching when Hana let out a small growl. 

 

“It wasn’t that asshole was it?” Hana shot at him, grabbing Tsuna’s chin to make her look at him. While the boy was good at hiding things and lying, he couldn’t do it when forced to look at someone, and tended to look away when he was hiding something. It was something that Hana had found out and told Kyoko about, but they were the only ones who knew Tsuna’s tell. “Don’t lie, Sawada.” 

 

Tsuna squirmed under her glare, before ultimately giving up. Lying hardly ever worked against Hana (and consequently Kyoko, who could feel what her summoner felt). “Okay yes it was him,” he paused and bit his lip. ‘Him’ referred to one of Tsuna’s main bullies, a boy in a higher grade known as Kaito Morikawa. While there were a few other people who tended to pick on him, and some who tended to annoy him (aka his teachers and Mochida), Morikawa was the one who made things physical. “But it’s okay! He just took my lunch for today, I’ll eat something when I get home.” 

 

Kyoko blinked at that, and Hana’s grip on Tsuna’s chin had tightened a bit, making him scrunch his face up in response. She muttered out a quick apology and let go, then grabbed her lunch and held it out to him. “Here, share mine. You’re skinny and you need to eat just as much as anyone else.” 

 

“Oh! You can take some of mine, Tsuna!” Kyoko chirped, holding hers out too. Both girls watched as he looked at them both in surprise, before nodding and murmuring a small thank you before digging in.

 

\--

 

“I’m home!” Tsuna called out as he walked into his house. School had finished for the day and Tsuna had managed to avoid his bullies for the rest of the day. He walked both Hana and Kyoko home like he tended to do everyday after school (but sometimes Kyoko’s older brother did it if he wasn’t busy, Ryohei was a strange guy). 

 

He heard his mother call out from the kitchen, so he headed there after he took his shoes off. He found her in the kitchen cleaning the dishes, with a pot cooking some stew sitting off to the side. “I’m home mom,” he repeated, smiling at her when she turned around. 

 

“Welcome home, Tsu!” she gushed, going to hug him when she remembered her arms and hands were dripping wet. She stopped herself at the last minute. 

 

Tsuna laughed at that, giving her a one-sided hug so she didn’t have to move away from the sink, before turning to leave to head up to his room. He blinked though when he saw a flyer laying on the table. “Mom, what’s this?” he asked, picking up the flyer. 

 

**WE WILL TRAIN YOUR CHILD TO BE THE LEADER OF THE FUTURE GENERATIONS.**

 

**CALL TODAY.**

 

**XXX-XXXX-XXXX**

 

“Oh! That was something I found in the mail. I figured it was a home tutor service,” Nana said, not turning away from the sink. She couldn’t see Tsuna’s scrunched up face as he felt his intuition try to warn him.

 

“You didn’t call did you?” Silence. “Mom, please tell me you didn’t call,” Tsuna pleaded, and Nana had finally turned from the sink with a reassuring look on her face. 

 

“I thought it wouldn’t hurt. Your grades have been close to failing and I thought… You could use the extra help,” she said softly, her eyes softening at the look her son was giving her. 

 

Tsuna let out a small huff of air, looking up at her instead of the flyer. “It could be a scam though, I don’t want you to lose money,” he explained, watching her smile at him and cup his cheek, not really minding that her hands were still wet.

 

“Don’t worry Tsu, your father will be sending some more money soon, but I have a feeling that this is a real offer and not a scam,” she said. She didn’t realise her son was worrying about things like that. But then again, in the past four years she’s realised that he’s started to grow up fast, and she knows that it’s most likely because his father hasn’t been home since Tsuna was only 5 years old. 

 

He sighed, knowing his mother wouldn’t budge about it. He leant his cheek into her hand for a moment, before pulling away. He grabbed his bag back up again, the flyer still in his hands, and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be up in my room doing homework,” he said with a smile, running up the stairs to his room.

 

Nana watched him go before turning back to the dishes again, smiling as she thought about how much her Tsuna had grown up. She hoped the tutor was the right person to call to help him.

 

\--

 

It was next morning when the ‘tutor’ arrived. Tsuna woke up to a seemingly normal day, but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was different. For the time being though he ignored the warning and started getting ready. 

 

He was halfway through getting dressed, just about to button up his shirt, when he heard it. A chirpy and small voice going “Ciassu!” was hard to ignore after all, when it was a weird greeting and it didn’t sound like his mother at all, who was the only other person meant to be in the house.

 

Tsuna blinked, looking around for the voice, and was about to shrug it off as imagining it when his intuition warned him of the bullet coming his way. He tilted his head to the side just as a bullet whizzed past him, making his heart beat fast at the thought that  _ someone just tried to shoot him _ . He whipped around quickly, prepared for an attacker to be in his room, but what he found was more confusing. 

 

He came face to face with a baby, dressed up in a black suit and a black fedora sitting on his head. He had a green handgun in his hand, the barrel still smoking from shooting a bullet. The baby looked no older than 5 years old, and looked tiny compared to Tsuna’s bedroom. 

 

“Ciassu,” the baby said, a smirk on his(?) face as he stared at the shocked teenager. “My name is Reborn. I’m here to train you into a leader of the future generation.” 

 

Tsuna stared at the baby, the words only just registering in his brain. What? Future generation? Leader? He was about to ask, when he remembered the flyer from yesterday. The tutor his mom had called up. Oh god no. “No. No no no, there is no way that can be true. You’re a  _ baby _ !”

 

Reborn’s eyes glinted dangerously, and Tsuna’s intuition wasn’t quick enough to warn him of the green hammer swinging at his head. He hadn’t had any time to react to Reborn’s gun changing into a  _ hammer _ and swinging at him, and as a consequence he was whacked into the wall. He hit the wall with a yelp and a loud crash, before sliding to the ground with a groan. He looked up at the baby, Reborn, who had made his way over to him. 

 

“Don’t underestimate me, Useless Tsuna. I’m your new tutor,” Reborn said simply, the hammer changing back into a gun which Reborn held to Tsuna’s forehead. “I’m also a master hitman, and am capable of making you feel pain without killing you.” 

 

Tsuna stilled at that, realising that Reborn wasn’t lying. There was no way that the killer intent Reborn radiated was fake. So instead, he sighed and relaxed against the wall, giving Reborn a grin. “Alright. You aren’t lying. But I don’t need a tutor.”

 

Reborn rolled his eyes. “Useless Tsuna. You average a 49-59% in all your tests and schoolwork. Your physical education grades are worse. And you are currently the only summoner in Namimori High with no familiars.” 

 

“Wai-” 

 

“Your mother called me with the intent to help you improve yourself. And that’s what I’ll do,” Reborn finished, keeping the gun trained on Tsuna. 

 

Tsuna narrowed his eyes at that. “How do you know about that? I don’t even know if I’m a summoner, I’m certainly not showing the signs and powers of one.”

 

The baby grinned at him. “You’re a summoner, and a strong one at that. I’m going to train you so that you can harness those powers,” he said, his eyes shining. Tsuna didn’t like the look of that. “You’re in for a hell of a lot of training, Useless Tsuna.”


	2. Puppy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter the dog: Hayato Gokudera

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my GOD this chapter was a monster to write. my wrists actually hurt because i somehow managed to smash this out in four straight hours of writing. i'm fucking proud of myself my dudes.
> 
> i'm sorry for the inconsistency of my chapters, but i'll probably go back and change a few things if i feel i need to.
> 
> i'm also adding in another thing: tsuna doesn't actually need the dying will bullets at first. i might make it so that reborn starts training up his body so that he can jump straight into the hyper dying will mode instead of building up with dying will bullets just to suit the flow of this story.
> 
> i'm also sticking to the one character per chapter thing, so the chapters may end up as long or longer than this one. also, the chapter titles reveal who is being introduced in the chapter, or what the chapter is about. i also might make a playlist for this story? lemme know if y'all would be into that.
> 
> also most of the characters getting introduced will probs be familiars mainly because all of tsuna's guardians are familiars that become bonded to him (duh) in order to protect him. i'm choosing the animals for each character based on their personalities, not their box animals that they eventually end up getting.
> 
> familiars in this world can 100% change into their animal form and most people prefer doing that. it's just that at school they shouldn't do it so that they can learn.
> 
> okay i'll stop blabbering ahah, thanks for reading!

“... a baby?” Hana asked, one eyebrow raised as she stared at the slightly bruised and very tired Tsuna, who was currently relaying to her what his morning had been like.

 

Hana was currently on the rooftop with Tsuna for lunch, but Kyoko wasn’t there with them. She was home sick with what she deemed was only a small cough, but her overprotective brother had insisted that she stay home with him looking after her, so Hana was left worrying about both her dumbass boy best friend and her familiar. 

 

(She could feel that Kyoko was in fact okay, but being separated from her for a whole day made Hana’s stomach twist slightly, not that she’d ever show it).

 

“Yes, a baby. I don’t care if you don’t believe me but he  _ attacked  _ me- gah!” Tsuna was cut off from his rant with a groan of pain when he felt something kick him in the head and send him flying forwards into the fence. 

 

Hana blinked as Tsuna went flying past her then looked where he was standing to find what looked like a baby dressed in a suit and fedora. Her eyes widened for a split second, before she cracked a small grin. “Huh, he wasn’t joking after all,” she commented, drawing the baby’s attention to her.

 

“Ciassu,” the baby said, holding out a tiny hand for her to shake. She crouched down in front of him and shook his hand, surprised by the firm grip he had for a baby. “I’m Reborn, Useless Tsuna’s tutor.” 

 

A muffled groan from Tsuna sounded, and Hana supposed he was trying to deny that claim but was in too much pain to do so. Instead, she pulled her hand back and nodded, a half smirk appearing on her face. “Hana Kurokawa, his best friend. Sawada is in desperate need of a tutor.”

 

She watched as the baby regarded her in acknowledgement for a second, before turning back to his ‘pupil’. She wondered if he really was a baby or not. Sawada didn’t seem to think he was.

 

“Useless Tsuna,” Reborn called out, walking over to the boy who was now in a sitting position and rubbing his head. “You should have felt me coming and avoided my attack. I could have hit your friend instead.” 

 

“You could have, but you like beating me up too much,” Tsuna grumbled, glaring at Reborn with all the heat of a baby kitten. 

 

Hana watched Reborn chuckle at that. “You’re easy to beat up, a mafia boss should always be on the defense no matter where he is.” Mafia boss? “That’s something we’ll be working on, too.”

“I already told you Reborn, I’m not going to be a mafia boss! I’m barely even a summoner!”

 

Hana blinked. “That’s true. Tsuna hasn’t shown any signs of being a summoner and we know for sure that he’s not a familiar.”

 

“He’s a summoner,” Reborn said with certainty, dark eyes glancing in her direction. Hana pursed her lips, not entirely sure on that one but not saying anything. Reborn took her silence as a sign to continue. “He’s got some hidden potential, and it’s my job to bring that out to form him into a mafia boss capable of taking over the strongest Famiglia in the world.” 

 

The girl raised an eyebrow at that. “Mafia boss?” she asked, glancing between Tsuna, who was sending another glare at Reborn, and Reborn, who was still looking at her and not acknowledging his student. “Is this some kind of weird roleplaying thing Sawada hasn’t said that he’s into?” 

 

Tsuna looked like he was going to cry at that, but instead settled for standing up and dusting himself off. He looked like he had a bruise already forming on his cheek, one that Hana knew Kyoko could heal if she were here. “No, it’s real,” Tsuna said, realising that lying to Hana would not work (she was proud of him for not trying). “But I’m not getting involved, and I don’t know why Reborn is even telling you when you won’t be either.” 

 

“You want to be a lawyer right?” Reborn addressed Hana this time, completely ignoring Tsuna.

 

At that, Hana let her eyes widen slightly. Sure she was one of the top students in the school, and already on her way to earning a college scholarship, but that wasn’t something she had told anyone but Tsuna and Kyoko. She knew Kyoko wouldn’t say anything, and one look at Tsuna told her he hadn’t mentioned it either, so how did this baby know?

 

“I’m the worlds best hitman,” Reborn said, as if reading her thoughts. “It’s impossible to hide anything from me. Being Tsuna’s close friend and his family, you will probably get involved. That’s why I asked, because if you are wanting to become a lawyer then we will be fortunate to have you on our side.” 

 

Tsuna huffed, drawing both her attention and Reborn’s attention to him. “Don’t involve her Reborn, it’s too dangerous and Hana’s too good for something like that.”

 

“Thanks, Sawada, but I can handle myself,” Hana said, rolling her eyes now that the shock of Reborn knowing her too well had dissipated. “Besides, aren’t you the one who needs tutoring and protecting right now?”

 

Reborn smiled at that, or was it a smirk? Hana couldn’t tell. “She’s right, Tsuna. And your training begins today. By the end of the week, I want you to have at least one familiar. Also, you will do your homework with Hana every day after school,” Reborn paused, looking at Hana for approval. She nodded. “And I want you to put in full effort at school.” 

 

Tsuna sputtered at that, most likely at the last part. “Wh-what? I can’t do that, Reborn! I’ve spent years making people think I’m just really dumb and a weak summoner… Well the weak summoner part is right, but still! I don’t want to be in the centre of attention,” he rambled, only shutting up when Reborn held a gun to his head. 

 

“You will, because as a mafia boss you will need to have the intelligence to stand above everyone else. And I watched you do your homework last night, you know what you’re doing but you just don’t show it in class,” Reborn said simply, as if he was just discussing the weather with an old friend. He waited for Tsuna to agree, albeit very meekly, and lowered his gun as it transformed into a… Chameleon? Hana wasn’t sure what to think of it.

 

Hana instead shrugged. “The baby has a point,” she said simply, holding up a hand to stop the oncoming ramble that was about to pour out of her friend’s mouth. “I’ve been telling you to show it, but you won’t. It might shut those bullies up too.” 

 

“It won’t, it’ll just make them more annoying-” 

 

“Bullies?” Reborn cut in, eyes narrowing. “Why are you letting yourself get bullied? That’s not something a future mafia boss should stand for.” 

 

Tsuna rolled his eyes. Of course Reborn would say that. The hitman has probably never been bullied in his life. “It’s nothing I can’t deal with. Usually just not fighting back makes them get bored and leave me alone,” he grumbled, crossing his arms and looking very much like a petulant child.

 

The baby hitman sighed and stepped back. “Fine. But you’ll deal with it eventually. For now, get to class.”

 

\--

 

It was the next day when Reborn finally,  _ finally _ , got to use the dying will bullet on his student for the first time. He spend most of the day before following Tsuna around and making sure his pupil didn’t get himself killed. Whilst the boy was the type to not want to listen to Reborn, he definitely spent the last few classes paying attention and actually doing his work.

 

(Reborn also had to hold back a laugh from his hiding spot when he noticed how taken aback Tsuna’s class had been, teacher included, when Tsuna answered a particularly hard question correctly). 

 

He had gone to visit Kyoko with Hana, then headed home with the other summoner and gotten his homework done, and had gone to bed exhausted without Reborn needing to step in. 

 

It was the next day, however, and Reborn was excited to finally meet Kyoko face to face. He had done some digging around and while he was certain Tsuna didn’t like her in that way, the rest of the school thought he did. And he planned to use that to his advantage, as well as using a certain kendo captain. 

 

He stayed silent as he watched his pupil fly around his room in an attempt to get ready on time, his uniform only half on as he packed up all his homework and schoolwork from the night before, that he had neglected to clean before going to bed. That was something Reborn would have to drill into him as well, it seems. He wondered how Tsuna had managed to live for 14 years without someone guiding him. 

 

He followed the boy to school, staying hidden while he did so. He didn’t come out at all, but he noticed Tsuna would sneak glances into his direction, which gave him some hope: Tsuna was showing signs of the famed Hyper Intuition already, even if the boy wasn’t aware of it yet. That made some of Reborn’s job a bit easier, maybe unlocking the boys flames wouldn’t be as hard and he wouldn’t need many shots of the Dying Will bullet. 

 

Once Tsuna had walked into school, managing to make it in time lest he incur the wrath of the school president (who Reborn also had an eye on for a future guardian. The school president was a familiar, maybe Tsuna could bond with him one day), Reborn made sure to make himself hidden, and wanted to wait until his plan started to unfold. He couldn’t give himself away too quickly, he is the world’s best hitman after all. 

 

\--

 

It happened close to lunch. Tsuna’s class looked to be having a break, and all it took was Tsuna giving Kyoko a hug for the kendo captain to lose it.

 

“Oi, Sawada!” Kensuke Mochida had almost screeched, gathering the attention of everyone in the room, including the boy and his two friends. “Fight me in a kendo match, one on one! The winner will win Kyoko Sasagawa!” 

 

Tsuna blinked at the captain, looking rather unimpressed. Was he not even allowed to hug his  _ friend  _ without anyone thinking they were together? 

 

“What?” Hana had breathed out, eyes narrowing dangerously. Reborn already liked her, she was sharp and it seemed she was willing to fight to protect a friend. “Kyoko isn’t a damn possession!” 

 

Said girl looked both indignant and taken aback, and Reborn felt a bit sorry for her, but this was in his students hand and he waited to see what Tsuna would do.

 

“Mochida, Kyoko isn’t a possession for us to fight over,” the boy said, and for a moment Reborn swore he could have felt the heat of his student’s flames. But it was over before he could process it. I’m not going to fight you to ‘win’ her, she’s my friend and clearly doesn’t want to be with you.” 

 

Mochida’s eyebrow twitched, that clearly wasn’t the response he wanted. “I don’t care what she wants, Sawada. Fight me. Now. Or are you too chicken and know that you’ll lose? Oh wait! I know! We should fight a Summoner battle! You’ll automatically lose because you don’t have a familiar!” 

 

Tsuna sighed, ignoring the twinge of pain and Kyoko’s sad eyes at the familiar comment. “Once again, Kyoko isn’t a possession, Mochida. I’m not going to fight you for her. She has the right to her own life and to choose who she wants to be around.”

 

“Fine, I’ll issue the challenge and if you don’t show then Kyoko will automatically be mine!” Mochida growled, ignoring Kyoko’s plead for him to stop and Hana’s low growl. “It’ll be a Summoner’s match in the gym, unofficial so we’ll keep it under the eye of the disciplinary committee. After school on Friday, you better show Sawada.” and with that, the kendo captain stalked out of the classroom.

 

“You should fight him,” Reborn said after they had left, appearing on Tsuna’s desk and making said student look at him warily. Good, it seems like Tsuna’s already getting used to him. “It’ll make him shut up if you defeat him.”

 

Tsuna blinked at him. “I don’t have a familiar, Reborn. How am I meant to fight him without a familiar? It’s against the rules of the battle.”

 

Reborn smirked, and secretly loved the look of his student not liking that. He instead turned to Kyoko, holding a hand out to her. “Ciassu. I’m Reborn. I’m the world’s greatest hitman teaching Tsuna how to be a mafia boss.” 

 

Tsuna sputtered at that, was Reborn just going to blurt that out to everyone? He thought it was supposed to be secret! It seemed, however, that he was worrying over nothing, because Kyoko let out a giggle and took Reborn’s hand gently, shaking it. “Aw, so cute! Is he your baby, Tsuna? Where did you find him?” 

 

“I-” Tsuna seemed lost for words at that, unable to believe that Kyoko thought Reborn was just pretending. But then again, Kyoko tended to be a bit of an airhead. It seemed even Hana couldn’t believe that her familiar and best friend was this spacey. “He just showed up at my house, please don’t pay him any mind Kyoko.”

 

“I still stand by what I said, Useless Tsuna,” Reborn cut in, turning to his student. “Fight Mochida. Don’t worry about the familiar thing. That will sort itself before Friday.”

 

\--

 

(Okay, maybe he didn’t get to use his bullet after all. But it was close).

 

\--

 

“That was the supposed Vongola Decimo?” a gruff voice asked as Reborn wandered behind the school. 

 

The baby hitman smirked. “Yes, he’s your target. Don’t fail me, Hayato Gokudera.”

 

\--

 

“Okay, before we get started, I have some news to announce,” Tsuna’s homeroom teacher, Nezu, said. He was an old man who claims to have taught at the top universities in Tokyo. Hana and Tsuna were sure that he was lying, but they can’t prove it yet. “We have a new transfer student all the way from Italy! He just transferred last night, so make him feel welcome. Please say hello to Hayato Gokudera.” 

 

At the sound of the name, Tsuna and his classmates looked to the door to see a tall boy with styled silver hair and bright aqua eyes walk in. Something about the boy made Tsuna’s stomach twist in worry, but he wasn’t sure why. He had never met this Hayato Gokudera in his life. Tsuna could hear the girls around him, bar Hana and Kyoko, squeal over the delinquent looking student. He focused back on his teacher who was pointing to a seat behind Tsuna, and Gokudera started to make his way over to the desk, glaring at Tsuna all the while.

 

Tsuna figured that the boy was just an angry looking person in general, but that all changed when Gokudera slammed his hand on Tsuna’s desk, hard enough to make him flinch back in fear and all his books to go everywhere. The teacher and Tsuna’s classmates gasped. “G-Gokudera-” Tsuna’s teacher got out, but the student ignored him and sat down in his assigned desk, glare still on his face. 

 

Tsuna shakily picked up his things, heart still racing from the slam. What had he done to this Hayato Gokudera?

 

\--

 

“Do you know him, Sawada?” Hana asked as soon as the bell rang, while Kyoko fussed over her friend and whether or not he had gotten hurt.

Tsuna shook his head and stood up, books tucked safely into his arms. “No I don’t,” he murmured, eyebrows furrowed as he and the two girls wandered up to the roof for their daily lunch routine. “I’ve never met him before in my life. I was going over everyone I might have wronged, but can’t think of him at all.” 

 

“Maybe from your childhood?” Kyoko offered, but knew it was useless all the same. Tsuna was a shut in from how his mother would describe him. She and Hana had heard all the stories, of how their friend was too scared to even step outside and would never leave the house apart from to go to school.

 

(He was still the same, somewhat, but they forced him outside sometimes).

 

Tsuna was about to reply, but stopped as soon as he opened the door to the roof. There, standing in the middle of the roof with his arms crossed and a cigarette hanging from his mouth, was Hayato Gokudera. 

 

And he looked pissed. 

 

Tsuna bit back the impulse to run away, and instead walked onto the roof. He could see Reborn out of the corner of his eye, and had a sudden realisation. Gokudera was a transfer from Italy, conveniently transferring a few days after Reborn had exploded into Tsuna’s life.

 

Hayato Gokudera was a mafioso.

 

Well shit, there went Tsuna’s plan to avoid him for the rest of his life. So instead, he stepped closer to the boy so that he was in earshot. “Uh- hi?” 

 

Gokudera stalked closer to him and leant close enough that Tsuna could barely see him clearly. And was he… sniffing him? Gokudera seemed to be investigating him, probably testing him for Reborn if Tsuna’s instinct was true. Finally, Gokudera spoke up. “So you’re the next in line for the Vongola boss? They really are desperate.”

 

Well. That stung just a bit. He wasn’t that bad was he?

 

Tsuna looked behind him for the girls, but they weren’t there. He suspected Reborn got them away for a good reason. So instead, he looked back at Gokudera, annoyance clearly showing in his expression as he took a step back. “I don’t want the position, I don’t know what Reborn has told you but I really have no interest in being the ‘boss’.” 

 

This was apparently the wrong thing to say. “Such insolence! You should be glad to be considered for the position!” Gokudera growled, taking out what appeared to be dynamite? “I will destroy you, and become the next Vongola Decimo instead!” he declared, lighting the dynamite sticks and throwing them at Tsuna. 

 

Tsuna yelped, quickly dodging out the way as the sticks exploded just where he was standing. This wasn’t good, this was going to attract a crowd. That didn’t apparently phase Gokudera though, who simply lit more up. This time he was going for four, and he once again threw them at Tsuna, who simply dodged again, but just barely. “God- stop! You’re going to get someone killed!” he yelled, hoping to get through to the boy.

 

“I won’t stop until you are dead!” Gokudera simply yelled back, lighting up six sticks of dynamite, throwing them up into the air. This time, however, the sticks fell straight down and landed at the boy’s feet, who stopped for a second to process what was happening. When he realised though, he panicked. Coincidentally, so did Tsuna, because despite what was happening he didn’t want Gokudera to die. 

 

He did the only thing he could think of. Running forward, he braced his entire body for impact as he tackled a frozen Gokudera to the ground, protecting him from the blast. 

 

\--

 

When the smoke had cleared, Gokudera let out a groan as he blinked his eyes rapidly to clear them. He felt a warm weight on his chest, and he raised his head to find the boy, Tsuna, laying on him. He had saved him, despite Gokudera attacking him? His boss… 

 

A small groan shook Gokudera out of his thoughts, and he quickly sat up, being mindful of his boss laying on his chest. He waited for the other boy to come to, and once brown eyes fluttered open, Gokudera began his apology.

 

“Tenth! You saved me! I’m so sorry I caused you this pain! I shall commit suicid-”

 

Gokudera was paused by Tsuna’s face smiling up at him, his eyes already fluttering again, as if he couldn’t keep his eyes open. “D-don’t worry about it.. Please don’t do anything rash, I was only… doing what was right…” Tsuna’s voice slowly got softer, until he had passed out again on Gokudera’s lap. 

 

The delinquent was close to panicking this time. “Tenth-!” 

 

“You need to take him to the nurses office,” a small voice cut in, and Gokudera looked up to see Reborn looking at him seriously. “Do you want your precious boss to die, idiot? Take him to see the nurse. I’ll get his two friends. Hurry!” 

 

Gokudera, for once, hurried to do as he was told.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also if anyone has any better ideas for a title please let me know! i hate the current one but i'm out of ideas
> 
> please please please comment what you think so far! i love criticism and compliments and i love communicating with you guys. it makes me feel like people actually read my story and take in what i'm writing.
> 
> prompt me and contact me on tumblr @ begone-nathan  
> i'm also on discord, instagram and snapchat but you'd have to ask for those.


	3. Hawk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and the baseball idol has come in, realising that tsuna is more than meets the eye

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you tell i have no update schedule for this? lol
> 
> once again this was a monster to write, its so fucking LONG like i'm used to writing 1k chapters so this is a lot to me. 
> 
> i didn't really know how to write the bonding scene so i kinda winged it? but i tried to portray gokudera's feelings since it was from his perspective, but i think most of the bonding scenes for different characters are going to be from tsuna's perspective.   
> i hope this was okay!!  
> also gokudera doesn't have a crush on tsuna, but he definitely admires him a lot so it could turn into one? who knows. i tried to write it as platonic admiration but it really turned into gokudera sounding gay for his new boss. i don't mind how i wrote him though and i wanna keep writing him like this from now on
> 
> anyways, enjoy! <3

“Will he be okay?” Gokudera asked, wide aqua eyes staring at Tsuna, who was laying on his stomach on a bed in the infirmary. Reborn had apparently pulled some strings to get the nurse to leave for while they were there, because she would have called an ambulance if she had seen Tsuna. “What if I’ve killed him?” 

 

Gokudera felt Reborn behind him, and heard him sigh. “He’ll be fine as soon as Kyoko gets here,” he explained, keeping the explanation short. 

 

“Can’t you heal him?” 

 

“I can, but I want to see how Kyoko does,” the Arcobaleno shrugged, as if that was an answer. 

 

The bomber stayed silent after that, waiting with the hitman for this ‘Kyoko’ to come. Gokudera thinks that he’s seen her before, probably the girl hanging around Tsuna after class, but he doesn’t feel comfortable with some random girl healing  _ his  _ boss (even if Gokudera was the one to hurt him in the first place). 

 

It was only 5 minutes later when two girls ran into the infirmary. One had short brown hair with bright brown eyes, she looked like she could pass for Tsuna’s sister if anyone didn’t know them both. The other girl had longer black hair and a scowl on her face, and Gokudera was sure she was annoyed that they were dragged to the infirmary instead of class, if he remembers her correctly.

 

“Tsuna!” the girl with brown hair squeaked, running over to the other side of the bed. She placed her hands on both of his cheeks, causing the boy to furrow his brow, but otherwise he stayed unconscious. “Will he be okay, Reborn?” she asked, looking past Gokudera to the hitman behind him. 

 

“He will be, I need you to heal him,” Reborn said, looking at her with an air of seriousness about him. Kyoko was about to talk, when Reborn held up a hand to tell her to let him continue. “Tsuna mentioned to me that you’re training in healing, since your power is healing. I want you to heal him.”

 

The girl blinked, and Gokudera realised that  _ this  _ was Kyoko. She didn’t look like much to him, so he didn’t bother to look at her anymore and instead kept his eyes on Tsuna. 

 

The other girl, who Gokudera assumed was Hana, stepped around the bed to put a hand on Kyoko’s shoulder. “Sawada might be an idiot, but he wouldn’t let himself get hurt like this for a good reason,” the girl said, and Gokudera looked up to find her staring at him with narrowed eyes. He averted his gaze, already feeling horrible for letting his nice boss get hurt because of him. “If Reborn wants you to heal him, then you should do it. He’s in a lot of pain.”

Kyoko nodded shakily, looking up at Hana. “Then… I will need to transform to do so,” she said, and Hana nodded. Gokudera looked up again at that, curiosity overtaking his need to keep his eyes on Tsuna.

 

He watched as Kyoko’s eyes glowed, looking more amber than brown, and bit by bit her body slowly disappeared. After a few seconds, a small red fox stood on the bed next to Tsuna. Kyoko looked up at Hana silently, and Gokudera assumed that Hana was her Summoner because as soon as Hana nodded, Kyoko got to work. The girl-turned-fox laid her head against Tsuna’s forehead, and a small amber glow surrounded the two of them. Even though Gokudera didn’t trust the girl, even he was amazed by the sight. Reborn was too, though Gokudera could see he was hiding it behind a blank stare.

 

The light was gone in a few minutes, and Tsuna was sleeping more peacefully than he had been, which Gokudera was glad for. He looked back down, missing Kyoko’s transformation back to human. When he looked up again, she was resting against Hana, looking well spent and tired from the healing. 

 

“S-Sorry Reborn,” Kyoko murmured, standing up on her own, though her hand was still on Hana’s arm. “That’s all I can do for now. I’m still learning healing, but he shouldn’t be in pain anymore.” 

 

Reborn smiled, a small smile but it was there nonetheless. This girl must have really impressed him, Gokudera mused to himself. “Don’t worry about it, he can deal with a bit of pain as a consequence of his action,” the hitman said, jumping onto the bed between Gokudera and Tsuna. “Besides, he has a faithful follower now to look after him.” 

 

At that, Hana snorted. “I was wondering what that monkey was doing here. Especially since he apparently has it out for Sawada now,” she said, sounding like she was joking; but Gokudera knew better. She was eyeing him, like she was a mother trying to protect her son from potential bullies. 

 

“Shut it, woman,” Gokudera growled, hands clenched. “I made a mistake. I will not let the Tenth be hurt again by my hand.” 

 

“Tenth?” Hana asked, raising an eyebrow. “Oh god, you’re a bigger monkey than the rest of them are.” 

 

Kyoko let out a small giggle at that, causing Gokudera to look at her. “You don’t want to hurt Tsuna do you?” she asked, a knowing smile on her face. He shook his head adamantly. “I can see it in your eyes. I don’t know what happened to Tsuna up there, but I know that he’ll forgive you, so we can too.”

 

“Kyo-”

“It’s okay Hana,” the girl cut off her Summoner, giving her a smile. “Besides, Tsuna will be fine. We can look after him still.” 

 

Hana sighed, crossing her arms. “Fine, fine. But if he  _ doesn’t  _ forgive that idiot, then I won’t either.”

 

Gokudera huffed at that, looking back down at his boss again (only if Tsuna accepts him, he reminds himself). He clenches his fists again and bites his lip. “If he accepts me,” he pauses, not wanting to think about what would happen if Tsuna didn’t. “I want to ask him to be my Summoner.” 

 

Both girls were silent at that, eyes wide. Reborn let out a small chuckle, turning to face Gokudera. “Good. He needs a good first Familiar.” 

 

Kyoko got over her shock first, leaning forward excitedly. “You’re a familiar, Gokudera? What animal?” she asked, her eyes sparkling. Gokudera thought that she must be into connecting peoples personalities with their animals. 

 

But… He did need to be on her good side, so he grudgingly replied “dog”. He hated it, and he rarely transformed because of it, because people assumed that it meant that they could walk all over him and he’d accept it. 

 

(He’s lost count of how many times he’s been told to be an obedient mutt or dog). 

 

“A dog? Heh, suits you,” Hana said nonchalantly. The comment stung a bit, but it wasn’t anything Gokudera wasn’t used to. 

 

He was about to retaliate when he heard a soft groan. He blinked, looking down at Tsuna to see fluttering brown eyes looking up at him. “Tenth-?” 

 

He watched Tsuna shake his head, pushing himself up onto his elbows shakily. Gokudera barely noticed Kyoko and Hana moving forward to stop him moving, and Reborn tensing, but Gokudera only had eyes for his boss. “Not a dog,” Tsuna said, barely there from the hazy look in his eyes. “Might be a canine, but not a dog.” 

 

“Tenth-”

 

Tsuna looked up at Gokudera, and the bomber flinched at the  _ kindness  _ in those eyes. “It’s not your fault. I’m glad you’re not hurt.” 

 

Gokudera didn’t know what to say to that, his words dying in his throat. He was saved from saying anything though, when Tsuna’s arms collapsed from underneath him and he started to fall back onto the bed. Gokudera reached forward, catching him before he could hit the bed, and laying him down gently. “Reborn- will he really be okay?” Gokudera asked quietly, watching Tsuna’s eyes flutter again, like he was trying to keep them open. “He has a fever.” 

 

Reborn cursed, stepping forward to get a good look at Tsuna’s face, a small baby hand coming to rest on the student’s face. “He’ll be fine, not for a few days though,” Reborn paused, looking at the girls then at Gokudera. “To make up for hurting him, you will take him to the apartment you’re staying in and look after him.” 

 

“Him?  _ No way _ ! He’ll get Sawada killed-” 

 

The hitman held up a hand to stop Hana’s protests, and looked at Kyoko. “Do you trust him with Tsuna?” 

 

Kyoko bit her lip, looking at Gokudera in the eyes, who wanted to look away but knew better than to break eye contact. After a moment, she closed her eyes and nodded. “Reborn is right, Hana,” she said softly, making Gokudera’s heart skip a beat. She trusted him? Kyoko’s next words also cut off whatever protest Hana was about to make. “I don’t know what’s going on for sure, but I can feel Tsuna is now at ease because of Gokudera.” 

 

That was surprising. And from the looks of things, Reborn was a bit surprised by that answer too.  _ Weird.  _

 

“Kyoko…” Hana trailed off, seemingly speechless. She instead looked at Gokudera with a glower, which he happily reflected. “Fine. But if we find out that he has been hurt in your presence  _ again, _ I will not hesitate to hurt you twice as much.” 

 

Gokudera scoffed at that. “I would never hurt Tenth again. I will protect him with my  _ life.”  _

 

“Good.”

 

\--

 

When Tsuna next came into awareness, he felt worried. He wasn’t sure why, or what was even wrong, but he just didn’t feel  _ right.  _

 

He opened his eyes blinking a bit to clear his vision. This wasn’t his room. Where was he? He sat up slowly, feeling his head spin a bit with the movement. He waited for a moment for the room to stop spinning, then he tried for standing. He looked down to find he was wearing a black shirt way too big for him and only his boxers, which made him panic a bit. He wasn’t in his house, so whoever he was with had undressed him. Had they  _ seen?  _ He hoped not. But given that his thighs and stomach would have been shown to whoever it was, there was no way they’d miss  _ it.  _

 

He bit his lip and walked to the door, using the wall to keep himself upright. He wasn’t too weak, but he worried that if he stood by himself then the world would spin in the wrong way again. Slowly, he opened the door and walked out into the main room. Where he was seemed… new. It wasn’t like a home at all. He wondered down to the hall where the kitchen was, but stopped before entering the small kitchen. 

 

Gokudera was in the kitchen, a book in one hand and his other by his side. He seemed to be cooking something and judging by the smell it was  _ good.  _ Gokudera was also wearing glasses with his hair tied back into a small ponytail. It was surreal to Tsuna, who just viewed the other boy as a delinquent. But to be fair, he had only known him for a day. 

 

He cleared his throat, making Gokudera jump and look up at him. He watched as aqua eyes widened, and wondered how worried the boy had been about him. “Tenth!” 

 

Tenth? Was that a title?

 

He was snapped out of the thought when he noticed Gokudera coming over to him and putting a hand to his forehead. “Still warm, but it’s gone down,” The silverette said, then grinned down at Tsuna. “I’m so glad you’re okay, Tenth! It’s been three days and I was scared you wouldn’t wake up even though Sasagawa had healed most of it.” 

 

“What-” 

 

Tsuna’s question was cut off by Gokudera getting on his hands and knees and bowing so low that his head hit the ground, making Tsuna wince. “I’m so sorry Tenth! I let you get hurt because of me and you almost died!” 

 

_ He almost died?  _ Had it really been that close? He doesn’t really remember much after tackling Gokudera to the ground. 

 

“Please give me any punishment you see fit! I will do anything you ask! Even kill myself!” 

 

Oh. Oh no. Tsuna wasn’t letting this go on any further, especially when  _ that  _ was involved. “Goku-Gokudera please stop that. It wasn’t your fault that I um… got hurt. And it wouldn’t really matter anyway, I’m just glad you’re safe,” he paused, making Gokudera stop hitting his head on the ground and look up at him. “But if it helps, I forgive you. I’m not going to ‘punish’ you for it either. So… Can we start over?” 

 

At Gokudera’s shocked and confused face, Tsuna let a small and genuine smile show on his face, one he rarely wore these days. He knelt down so that he was face to face with the other boy, and held out his hand. “I’m Sawada Tsunayoshi, it’s nice to meet you.” 

 

Tsuna watched as Gokudera stared at him for what seemed like ages, until he cautiously took his hand. “Hayato Gokudera… Please, Tenth-” 

 

“Tsuna.” 

 

“If you forgive me, then I must follow you to the ends of the Earth,” the boy proclaimed, making Tsuna blink, and blush slightly. “You saved my life, and I owe you mine. That is… if you’ll want me in your Family.” 

 

This time it was Tsuna’s turn to stare. “Gokudera… I don’t want a follower or subordinate, but I wouldn’t mind a friend.” 

 

Gokudera blinked. Tsuna was worried that he had broken him, until Gokudera gave him a grin - a beautiful, genuine one in return. “A friend… Thank you, Tenth. Ah- I also want to bond with you!” 

 

What? 

 

“Reborn mentioned that you don’t have a Familiar yet. As your right-hand man,” when had Tsuna ever said he was that? “I will happily bond with you and give you my life.” 

 

Gokudera really had a way with words, Tsuna realised, his cheeks red from Gokudera’s second biggest proclaimation of the day. 

 

(Tsuna also realised that Reborn would be laughing his ass off if he was watching this).

 

“You want to bond… with me?” Tsuna asked instead, staring with wide eyes at the boy in front of him. “I’m the weakest Summoner that’s ever been around. You would be much better off with someone else-” 

 

“But I don’t want someone else!” Gokudera exclaimed, cutting Tsuna off and not really realising that he did so. “I want you, Tenth, and only you. I want to protect you as my Summoner.” 

 

Tsuna was speechless. He had always thought he wasn’t worth that much as a human, let alone a Summoner. But Gokudera was apparently willing to prove him wrong. He bit his lip, closing his eyes and blinking slowly as he took a deep breath in. “I… Okay. If you want to bond we can bond.” 

 

Seeing Gokudera’s eyes light up made him feel a lot better about his decision. 

 

\-- 

 

Gokudera was shocked. His boss… had not only accepted him, but had also offered to be his friend. Gokudera hadn’t ever felt this warm in a while, but even seeing Tsuna smile at him made his heart burn with something he couldn’t quite name. 

 

“Um- how do we do the bond thing?” Tsuna’s sheepish voice broke through his thoughts, and Gokudera looked up to see his precious boss rubbing the back of his head and looking very awkward. He also noticed that Tsuna was pulling his hair slightly, and wondered if that was a habit of his. “No one has ever bothered to bond with me before, so I don’t actually know how to do it…” 

 

“Oh!” Gokudera grinned and stood up, happy to be able to help his boss out. “It’s actually easy,” he said, grabbing the closest sharp object he could see and the book he was reading. “We draw blood and have to recite these incantations. I was reading up on it from this book Reborn gave me yesterday since he thought I’d be bored with you sleeping for three days.” 

 

He watched Tsuna blink. “Three… days?” he asked, his voice quiet. “Has it really been three days?”

 

Gokudera nodded, looking down at him. Tsuna was still on his knees while Gokudera was standing, so the bomber knelt back down in front of him. “Okay… I think the Familiar goes first…” Gokudera frowned, holding the knife to his finger. He pushed the tip into his thumb, flinching when he felt the blood start to drip down from the wound. He placed the book in between them both, keeping it open on the page with the incantations. “ O beatus velit custodire custodes et stellae, et hoc non est anima mea ad eos nexum.” 

 

Tsuna breathed, and Gokudera could barely hear the sound over his heart beating in his ears. He could feel Tsuna’s soul, so open yet closed and full of light and heat. This was  _ his  _ Summoner, and it made the animal in him become more and more primal. He wordlessly handed the blade to his Summoner, who took it and pierced a small hole in his own thumb, repeating the incantation with a more quiet voice, probably because he was already feeling the connection form. 

 

It felt powerful, a searing heat running through Gokudera’s entire body and he assumed this was what Tsuna  _ was.  _ This powerful, yet accepting warmth that felt like  _ home.  _ He grabbed Tsuna’s hand with his own, mixing their blood together and forming the bond that connected them in both body and soul. 

 

Gokudera felt the heat finally simmer down, and he looked up to find Tsuna’s eyes closed. He breathed out in relief and smiled. “Tenth?” 

 

He watched those amber eyes open and look up, staring through him with a starry look to them. The boy was so small compared to Gokudera, and the dog felt the urge to protect him rise even more. “Do you… feel okay, Gokudera?” 

Gokudera nodded, a grin appearing on his face. His boss, his Summoner, was perfectly fine it seemed. “Yes, Tenth, I’m okay.”

 

“Good, I’m glad,” Tsuna smiled at him, small and tired but it was there. “Oh! Oh, Gokudera we need to get to the school. Something feels wrong, and I need to make sure everything is okay.” 

 

“School? Tenth, school finishes in an hour,” Gokudera said, holding his hands out. Tsuna tried to stand, but fell back down almost immediately and would have fallen to the ground had Gokudera not catch him. “You’re still sick, you need to rest.” 

 

Tsuna was adamant though, and shook his head. “No. I need to go, please Gokudera,” he said, using his best puppy dog eyes on the bomber.

 

Gokudera felt his resolve crumbling at that, and bit his lip. “... Okay. I’ll go with you though. But um…” he paused, realising that his boss was only in one of Gokudera’s shirts and boxers. He blushed and kept his eyes up. “Reborn left some of your clothes here so you can change into those.” 

 

He watched as Tsuna looked down at himself, and his cheeks went red. He let out a squeak and stood up, almost falling again but Gokudera was there to hold him up. “R-Right I’ll get on that- where are they?” the smaller boy barely got out, and Gokudera felt bad for him. He wondered if it had to do with the scars on Tsuna’s body, and the fact that his ribs were showing slightly.

 

(He made a mental note to ask Reborn at one stage, since he was sure that Tsuna wouldn’t give him answers). 

 

“In the room you were sleeping in,” Gokudera replied, letting Tsuna stand by himself but kept his arms hovering just in case. Tsuna was shaking slightly, but he managed to stand by himself. He made his way to the room, Gokudera watching him go.

 

\--

 

Once he was dressed, they headed back to the school. Tsuna found out that Gokudera lived quite close to him, and wondered if that was Reborn’s doing.

 

As soon as they reached the school, Tsuna’s intuition took him to the school’s field, where the baseball team were practising. They stood to the side, unable to be seen by anyone else. Gokudera had asked what they were doing there, but Tsuna had simply replied that he didn’t know either, just that he had a bad feeling. 

 

(“Tenth are you… okay?” Gokudera had asked, walking beside the boy who seemed like he was on a mission, from how fast he was walking.

 

“I’m fine,” Tsuna had replied, though he still felt exhausted. 

 

Gokudera pursed his lips at that reply. “What are we doing? What’s this ‘bad feeling’ you have? Is something bad going to happen?” 

 

“I… Don’t know,” Tsuna had admitted. “I just know that something’s not right, and theres something pulling me forward to fix it.”)

 

They watched as the game finished, and one by one the team had left and only Yamamoto Takeshi was practising. He was going hard at it too, and Tsuna’s intuition told him that Yamamoto was the one who was seeking his soul out.

 

He didn’t know how he was going to approach this, but he had to try. He stood up from his spot on the grass, barely noticing Gokudera right behind him, and made his way over to Yamamoto from behind, so that he wouldn’t get hit by his swing. “Um… Yamamoto-” 

 

He watched as the baseball idol stopped swinging, and turned to look at him. His eyes brightened considerably, which was weird because he and Tsuna had barely interacted before this. But then again, this situation was weird.

 

“Tsuna? Hey! You haven’t been at school in ages, what are you doing here?” 

 

Tsuna blinked, not sure how to start this. “Yamamoto, are you… okay?” he asked, biting his lip. He didn’t notice Gokudera looking at him oddly, but he did watch as Yamamoto’s eyes widened at the question. 

 

He noticed Yamamoto’s mask crack.

 

“Am I okay? I’m fine Tsuna,” Yamamoto said, his signature grin on his face. But to Tsuna, it didn’t really reach his eyes. “Actually… I want to ask you something. I know you don’t really like sports, but I wanted your opinion on something.” 

 

Tsuna blinked.

 

“I’ve been practising a lot lately, but it seems like I’m only getting worse. My batting average has gone down, and I was even the reason why my team lost our game yesterday. What do you think I should do?” 

 

Oh. This wasn’t something Tsuna felt like he could answer, but he knew that he had to.

 

Gokudera let out a growl. “Oi! The Tenth doesn’t have to answer that big of a question! How dare you ask hi-”

 

Tsuna’s hand went up at that to silence Gokudera, who had begrudingly done so, but not without sending a glare at Yamamoto. “I… I’m not the best person to ask this, Yamamoto,” Tsuna began, hurrying on when he saw Yamamoto’s face fall. “But-! I think you should keep at it. You’re an amazing player, and you’re just in a dump right now. I know you love baseball, and while it might not seem like it now, it’ll get better.” 

 

“I should keep practising…?” the smile was gone from Yamamoto’s face, and Tsuna worried that he might have said the wrong thing. But then the athlete’s face lit up in a grin, and the worry dimmed down slightly in Tsuna’s stomach. “That’s great advice, Tsuna! You’re not a bad guy.” 

 

Tsuna smiled at that, nodding. “But Yamamoto, don’t practise too hard otherwise you’ll get hurt,” he paused. Why did Tsuna still have a bad feeling? “And remember, it’s not the end of the world.”

 

Yamamoto’s grin died down, but the smile was still there. “Thanks Tsuna, don’t worry about me. But I appreciate the advice.” 

 

\--

 

Tsuna deemed himself well enough to go to school the next day, or rather he wasn’t well enough still since his fever had gone back up again but he still had that bad feeling that had only grown in worry. 

 

“Tenth, I still don’t think this is a good idea,” Gokudera was saying, walking by Tsuna’s side on the way to school. “You’re still sick.” 

 

The brunette shook his head. They were almost at the school, and Tsuna wished the anxious feeling would go away already, but he knew it wasn’t going to unless he fixed whatever was going on at the school. 

 

The two stayed silent as they walked into school. Tsuna could tell that Gokudera was a bit antsy, and didn’t really blame him. He knew that Gokudera could feel how sick Tsuna actually was, and that Reborn might actually kill him if he knew Gokudera had let Tsuna go to school while he wasn’t fully better. 

 

(He didn’t even know why he’s this sick, as far as he knows he only had bad burns that have since healed. Gokudera said it was from the stress his body has been under.)

 

He walked into their home room, with Gokudera following closely behind more because he was worried than anything else. Tsuna was about to sit down, when he noticed a girl run into the room.

 

“Someone help! Yamamoto is going to jump off the roof!” she yelled, panting out of exertion. Everyone in the classroom had gasped, and Tsuna blinked. That was where his bad feeling must have been coming from!

 

He bolted out of the class with Gokudera calling after him and running out soon after. He failed to notice Reborn watching him from the shadows.

 

\--

 

“Yamamoto, please don’t do this!” 

 

“You have so much to live for!” 

 

“This isn’t the end!” 

 

Tsuna heard the yells and screams before they even got up onto the roof, and it made him pale even more. He pushed the door open, hearing Gokudera still following behind with more students behind him, and ran out onto the roof only to stop. There was a group of students hanging around the fence on the left side of the roof, and it made his heart stop when he heard what they were trying to say. 

 

He slowly pushed his way through to the front, his eyes widening when he reached the front and his heart dropped. 

 

Yamamoto was standing on the edge of the roof, having jumped over the fence (and Tsuna noticed with dread that it was the part of the fence that one of Gokudera’s bombs had damaged after Tsuna had hit it away). The baseball player had his arm in a sling, which made Tsuna think that was his reason for wanting to jump. 

 

He had to do something.

 

Ignoring Gokudera’s cries, he walked forward and, ignoring the others around him, put his hands on the broken fence. “Yamamoto.” 

 

The baseball player flinched, turning to looking at him. “Tsuna?” he asked, his eyes widening. “What are you doing here? If you’re here to talk me out of this, you can’t.” 

 

“Why do you want to jump?” Tsuna asked him, knowing that telling him not to won’t exactly work. Behind him, the students had gone quiet and he wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good thing. 

 

Yamamoto let out a bitter laugh, gesturing to his broken arm. “The baseball Gods have spited me, Tsuna. I practised hard, and I broke my arm- now I can’t play baseball at all. It’s like a sign that I should not play anymore!” he said, his voice raising towards the end as he got emotional. “If I can’t play baseball, what have I got? I’m not good at anything else.” 

 

Tsuna bit his lip, and shook his head. “No. You have a lot of things going for you Yamamoto! You aren’t me! You’re smart, and your arm will heal. You’ll play baseball again,” Tsuna said, loud enough over the yells that had started up again. 

 

Then he did something he wasn’t thinking of. Tsuna stepped over the broken fence to stand on the edge next to Yamamoto, ignoring Gokudera’s cry of “Tenth!” and the other students gasping at the action. 

 

Yamamoto’s eyes widened as he saw Tsuna stand next to him. “Tsuna? What are you doing?” 

 

“If you think your life is worthless without baseball, then mine is worthless too,” Tsuna simply said, staring at him with his entire body feeling like it was on fire. “If you jump, I jump too.” 

 

The baseball boy blinked, his eyes shining. “Tsuna, you can’t.” 

 

Tsuna shrugged. “I’m showing you that you have something more to live for. It’s hard now but it will better, as cliche as that is,” he said softly. He wasn’t sure if this was actually helping, but he couldn’t stop now. “I’m sorry you feel this way though. But… Yamamoto, I’ve been there and I can say that it’s not worth it. You have people you care about, I know your dad would say the same thing.” 

 

He watched Yamamoto breathe deeply, eyes closing as he thought about it. As soon as he opened his eyes again, they filled with tears. “Tsuna… I’m so sorry. You’re right, this was dumb and I know it will get better,” he said, turning to climb back over the fence. 

 

Tsuna laughed shakily in relief, and was about to climb back over the fence, when the worst thing that could happen, happened. He slipped off the roof. 

 

He let out a yell, watching as everyone else watching screamed. He saw Gokudera dart forward, and he felt Yamamoto grab his hand. For a moment, he felt safe again, but then Yamamoto’s hand on the fence slipped and they were both sent off the roof. He reached out quickly for Gokudera’s hand, but their hands just missed each other and Yamamoto and Tsuna fell backwards. 

 

That was the last thing he remembered when everything went black.

 

\-- 

 

Yamamoto brought Tsuna close to him, hugging him as they fell to the ground. This was his fault, so he’d try and break Tsuna’s fall as much as he could, even if he died in the process. He noticed that Tsuna had gone still and quiet, and looked down to see the other boy had passed out, but he wasn’t sure from what.

 

He instead held Tsuna with one hand, wondering how the boy was so small, and held his other hand out, trying to see if he could grip onto one of the ledges and stop their fall. He was about to give up hope and accept their fate when he felt someone grab his hand and their fall stop, making him panic as he tightened his hold on Tsuna. 

 

He looked up to see who had caught them, and was surprised to see it was Hibari Kyoya who had caught them. He tried to help the President out and used his legs to brace himself against the wall, and essentially walked up the wall with Hibari’s help. As soon as they were back onto safe ground, Yamamoto dropped to his knees with Tsuna still in his arms, his entire body shaking with shock and fear. 

 

He should have listened to Tsuna and shouldn’t have even attempted what he had attempted today. He looked at the boy in his arms, and felt his entire body feel better at seeing how peaceful Tsuna was in his arms. 

 

“Herbivore,” Hibari’s voice came from above him, and Yamamoto looked up to see the President of the Disciplinary Committee… just staring at him? “The fluffy herbivore is sick. Make sure he’s not at school for the rest of the day. And if you try that again, I  _ will  _ bite you to death.” and with that, Hibari stalked down the hall. 

 

Yamamoto sighed in relief, sagging against the wall for the time being. He didn’t want to move, just wanted to get a few seconds to himself to process what just happened.

 

He didn’t get that, however, because he heard someone running down the hall. He looked up to see Gokudera Hayato of all people running towards them, screaming out “Tenth!” as he did so. 

 

The silver-haired boy dropped down to his knees beside Yamamoto, hand going to Tsuna’s forehead before he drew it back, cursing. “Oi! Baseball idiot, what did you think you were doing!? The Tenth’s fever has gone back up because of you!” 

 

“Eh?” Yamamoto blinked, realising that yeah, Tsuna felt a lot warmer than he should. He looked at the boy in his arms, and brushed a few stray strands of hair back. “I didn’t realise, sorry. But I can look after him!” 

 

Gokudera growled at that, full on growled. “ _ I  _ will take care of  _ my  _ Summoner. Not you. You are the one who caused this,” he said lowly, eyes narrowing as he pulled Tsuna into his own arms. He stood, his Summoner laying bridal style in his arms. “You’re lucky the Tenth even tried to save you. He’s got a good heart.” 

 

And with that, Gokudera stormed off. Yamamoto blinked, watching him go. He was lucky, he hadn’t realised that Tsuna was an amazing person underneath his ‘No-Good’ persona. He figured that he’d find out where Tsuna was, and thank him personally. 

 

And then maybe they could become friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please please please comment and leave kudos! tell me what you think! it really motivates me to write more and i love hearing what you think about my stories
> 
> tumblr: begone-nathan


	4. Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yamamoto and tsuna build a bond; mochida finally gets his fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SO SORRY GUYS BUT IM BACK HI   
> this was a long ass chapter that took a long ass time. sorry- im gonna be busy this year too. i start uni in less than a month, and i just got the new kh game which i have now finished.  
> i'm just struggling to find motivation to write. but i finally have it again! i want to get these chapters out so that i can finally introduce my oc. im very proud of her and have spent a lot of time on her, so i'm really hyped to see how y'all like her. she probably won't appear for a few chapters though.
> 
> im also sorry i didnt reveal another main character in this chapter but thats coming next chapter!

“What. The fuck.” 

 

When Gokudera opened the door, he was not expecting to see the grinning and happy face of Yamamoto Takeshi in front of him, holding up a plastic bag of what smelled like sushi. “Hey! It’s been two days and it took me a while to track you down, but here!” the sports player’s grin got even wider, if possible. He thrust the plastic bag into Gokudera’s arms, and walked into the apartment, not really minding that he hadn’t been invited in. 

 

Gokudera let out a growl, the sushi in one hand as he shut the door with the other. “You need to leave,” he snarled, following the other boy into the small kitchen. “I don’t want you anywhere near the Tenth after the stunt you pulled. He’s finally okay again and you’ll just ruin it.” 

 

“You need to calm down,” Yamamoto said, stopping and turning to face the dog. “I get it, okay? I messed up. That’s why I’m here, to at least apologise. The sushi is for Tsuna because he’s really skinny, and you too because I know I upset you.”

 

Unable to come back to that with a response, Gokudera simply huffed and, swallowing his pride, put the sushi down on the counter. “I’ll get the Tenth then. You can dish that up,” he said, disappearing into the corridor. 

 

Yamamoto watched him go, his grin falling from his face for a second, before he turned to the bag in front of him. 

 

\--

 

“Tenth?” Gokudera called into the room, unsure if his boss would be asleep or not. After Reborn had expressly denied Tsuna’s requests to go to his home, he instead would spend all day locked in the spare room that Gokudera had deemed as his room. “That  _ idiota  _ is here, he wants to see you. I can tell him to go away-”

 

Gokudera was cut off by the door opening slightly, and bright amber eyes staring up at him. He paused as he took in what little he could see of Tsuna’s appearance. The boy seemed fine, if a bit tired. “Don’t do that, I’ll be out- I should probably see him,” Tsuna said, opening the door fully, dressed in only a shirt and jeans that sat snug on his waist. “And um- can I call Kyoko and Hana? I think that they’d be worried about me and I wanna tell them that I’ll be at school tomorrow.” 

 

Gokudera smiled at that, even if he didn’t fully understand why his boss was so close with those two. But both girls had grown on him a bit, and he didn’t want to keep Tsuna locked up forever when he was much better. “Of course, Tenth! The baseball idiot brought sushi too if you’re up to eating it,” he said, hoping that the other boy would say yes. Well, if he had it his way he’d have Yamamoto out of his apartment, but he also wanted Tsuna to eat. 

 

Tsuna gave a small nod, smiling up at Gokudera, who melted a bit at the sight. He still couldn’t get over his boss’ smile. He didn’t say anything though, just stood aside to let Tsuna through. He wondered where Reborn was, but figured it wasn’t important at the moment. 

 

(As he had the thought, Gokudera felt a shiver go down his spine as if he could feel killer intent coming from somewhere outside the apartment.

 

And unknown to Gokudera, Reborn had a sixth sense about these things. He is, after all, the spawn of Satan.)

 

\--

 

“Yamamoto?” Tsuna called out from the corridor, not sure whether to step into the kitchen or not. He wasn’t sure if he and Yamamoto were friends, or even if the other boy liked him. He wasn’t sure entirely what happened before he had passed out, just that he had fallen off the roof and Hibari Kyoya of all people had saved him. He had remembered Yamamoto trying to break his fall, and someone holding him as he fell, but that’s where the memory stopped. He had tried getting it out of Gokudera, but the best he got was angry rants about Yamamoto.

 

Said baseball player turned at hearing his name, his face lighting up with what Tsuna could tell was pure joy. Was he really that happy at seeing Tsuna? “Hey, Tsuna! Glad to see you awake, you really scared me when you wouldn’t wake up!” 

 

Oh. That was why. Tsuna awkwardly smiled, scratching at his arm absentmindedly. “Sorry, I only came to school because I had a bad feeling. I was worried,” he paused, biting his lip. “I’m sorry Yamamoto, for not being careful and dragging you off the roof with me.”

 

“You remember that happening?” Yamamoto laughed, making Tsuna look at him. “It’s all good Tsuna! I was being dumb, I know that now. My old man actually grounded me for a couple of days and said I’m not allowed to play baseball for a couple of weeks. All well and good too because my arm needs time to heal.”

 

Tsuna blinked. “Oh, thank you Yamamoto,” he gave a small smile, feeling Gokudera’s presence behind him. “I’m sorry if I’ve kept you from school-”

 

Yamamoto grinned, shaking his head. “You’re not, I’m not missing out on much today and I wanted to come y and see how you were. It’s good to see you’re not sick anymore.” He seemed like he was going to say more, but stopped, and so Tsuna moved forward. 

 

“Yamamoto do you… have anyone to talk to about those feelings? They aren’t something you should keep bottled up especially if it’s driving you to do  _ that _ .” 

 

“Oh- well… I know I seem ‘popular’,” the taller boy seemed to show disgust at the word, and Gokudera scoffed behind Tsuna as he walked around to get drinks. “But honestly? You’re the first person who’s even cared as much as you do. And I really appreciate it. I was hoping we could be friends, if you would like to be my friend.”

 

Tsuna bit his lip. He figured that was the case, but he thought that Yamamoto didn’t want to be around him after all that had happened. “You really wanna be friends, with me?” he asked quietly, still unbelieving. 

 

(He still wasn’t entirely sure why Gokudera even wanted to bond with him in the first place,and the only answer he got was “you’re my beloved boss!” with a lot of starry dog eyes. 

 

That was also the first time Gokudera had shown his dog form, as Tsuna had woken up to a big golden retriever laying across his legs that morning. He had screamed until Gokudera had promptly pushed him back down into bed, and then fell asleep again.) 

 

“Yeah!” Yamamoto simply said, laying his unbroken arm across Tsuna’s shoulders. “You’re amazing Tsuna, and nice too. I want to be your friend.” 

 

Oh. Oh he wasn’t sure he wanted both Gokudera and Yamamoto looking at him, especially since he could feel tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He tried to ignore them, and gave a small smile at both boys when they donned equally worried expressions. Gokudera had finished the drinks and now had three cups of what seemed to be lemonade next to the plates of sushi. “Then… We can be friends, Yamamoto.” 

 

Yamamoto smiled at that. “Oh. Call me Takeshi, and I’ll call you Tsuna, okay?” his voice left no room for argument, so Tsuna found himself nodding at the statement. “You wanna have some sushi? My dad made some for you and Gokudera after I told him what happened. He owns Take-Sushi.” 

 

“Really?” at that, Tsuna’s eyes lit up, much to Gokudera and Yamamoto’s happiness. Tsuna didn’t pay them any mind though, it had been years since he had Take-Sushi, and the last time he had it, he loved it. “And I can have some?” 

 

“Of course Tenth!” Gokudera answered for Yamamoto, glaring at said boy as he pushed Tsuna into one of the stools at the bench. The young boss didn’t really get much of a choice and simply did what Gokudera wanted, knowing that the dog wouldn’t let him go until he was fully better, which he had a suspicion was Reborn’s orders. 

 

He watched the other two boys sit down in the other chairs, both being civil (but Tsuna could feel the annoyance from Yamamoto and the anger from Gokudera as they tried not to look at each other). 

 

“Yamamoto,” Tsuna started, hands in his lap. He ignored Yamamoto’s protest of ‘I told you to call me Takeshi’ and instead looked down at the plate in front of him. “Are you sure its okay for me to eat this? I know your dad’s prices are a bit high.”

 

The boy laughed, nodding. “Maa maa Tsuna, you worry too much. He gave it to me to gift it to you for talking me out of a stupid mistake,” he chirped, already starting on his own plate. 

 

Tsuna bit his lip, studying him for a moment, before biting into his own sushi. It was just as delicious as he remembered, which amazed him as he hasn’t had it in seven years. He wondered if Tsuyoshi remembered him, but then shook away the thought. Even if he ate at Take-Sushi often in the past, a lot of other people probably did too. “It’s delicious,” Tsuna mumbled, eyes widening. 

 

“Glad you think so,” Yamamoto said, eyes sparkling and smile soft. “I wanted to ask you something Tsuna, if I can.” 

 

The boy blinked, looking up at Yamamoto as the same time that Gokudera did. His Familiar let out a small growl, apparently thinking that Yamamoto was once again dangerous, which made Tsuna inwardly frown at. He ignored it for the time being. “Go ahead, Yamamoto.” 

 

‘“I wanted to ask you to be my Summoner.” 

 

Silence. Tsuna had his eyes wide open at the statement, while Gokudera looked ready to strangle the baseball player. “No,” Gokudera growled, standing up. “You are  _ not  _ getting your hands on  _ my  _ Summoner.” 

 

“A Summoner can have more than one Familiar,” Yamamoto pointed out. “And as it stands, I don’t think I asked you. I asked Tsuna.” 

 

At this, Tsuna felt Yamamoto’s stare soften when their eyes met, and Tsuna could feel that Yamamoto genuinely wanted a bond. “I.. You want me to be your Summoner?  _ Me _ ?” he squeaked out, thoughts flying through his head at a mile a minute. “But I’m no good! I’m  _ Useless Tsuna _ !” 

 

Yamamoto shook his head, sending an icy glare to Gokudera when the boy growled again. “You’re not useless though, and if anyone had to be my Summoner then I want it to be you.” 

 

Tsuna bit his lip, mentally sending calm vibes to Gokudera to make him stand down. He felt Gokudera huff beside him and sit down, settling for glaring at Yamamoto instead. “Okay,” Tsuna agreed after a moment of thinking it over. “Okay, I’d love for you to bond with me.”

 

\--

 

Before performing the bonding ceremony, Tsuna had asked to call Hana and was on the phone to her while Gokudera and Yamamoto were waiting in the living room. He had to make his call quick, for fear that the two might murder each other while he wasn’t around. 

 

(He didn’t think Yamamoto was violent, but he hadn’t exactly proved that he  _ wouldn’t  _ not fight Gokudera if it came down to it.)

 

“ _ What? Really? _ ” Hana’s voice came through on the line as Tsuna finished explaining what was going on. “ _ That’s impressive Sawada. From what I know, Yamamoto is quite a strong Familiar, which will help you fight against Mochida tomorrow. _ ”

 

Oh. Oh no. Tsuna had completely forgotten about that. “What? That’s this Friday?” 

 

Hana’s sharp intake of breath didn’t help his heart calm down. “ _ You forgot? Well, after everything that happened I don’t really blame you. Normally violence pisses me off, but if you win against him he’ll leave Kyoko alone _ ,” the ‘hopefully’ was silent, but Tsuna understood what she meant. “ _ It’s after school tomorrow so if you show up with two Familiars, maybe he’ll back down from the fight. _ ”

 

“Maybe,” but Tsuna really didn’t think that Mochida would back down at all. And he knew that Hana didn’t really think so either. “I didn’t miss out on much school-wise, did I?” 

 

“ _ Nope. Reborn pulled some strings and all you have to do is a few worksheets _ ,” wow. Tsuna didn’t think that Reborn would be that nice. “ _ Kyoko will give them to you when you come to school tomorrow. I’ll be there in the afternoon so can you walk her to school for me? Make sure she stays safe? _ ”

 

Tsuna blinked. “Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow then.” 

 

“ _ Lunch tomorrow, _ ” Hana paused for a second, and Tsuna waited to see if she would say anything else. “ _ Stay safe, Tsuna _ .”

 

“You too, Hana,” Tsuna smiled, hearing the beep sound to notify him that she had hung up. He put the phone back on the wall, and sighed. Time to face the music.

 

\--

 

“You ready?” Yamamoto asked, staring at Tsuna as they knelt in front of each other. Gokudera had been pushed out of the apartment and told to go get some snacks by Yamamoto, who probably knew that there shouldn’t be anyone else near for the bonding ceremony. The boy had begrudgingly gone out, if only to appease his boss, and had left the other two alone.

 

Tsuna nodded, giving a small yet nervous smile. He knew how the ceremony worked now, but it still made him nervous. There were times when bonds simply didn’t work and he was worried that Yamamoto would subconsciously reject him even if Yamamoto was the one who asked first. It was a genuine fear of his. 

 

“Okay…” Yamamoto trailed off, looking down at the paper in front of him. He reached out and took one of Tsuna’s hands in his own, a small blade in his hands. He gently pressed the blade down, watching as a small droplet of blood welled up on Tsuna’s finger, before doing his own and barely flinching. 

 

Tsuna took a deep breath, already feeling the air around them become thicker. “ O beatus velit custodire custodes et stellae, et hoc non est anima mea ad eos nexum,” Yamamoto chanted softly, their hands held together with the blade now left on the ground next to them. Yamamoto’s eyes were closed, but Tsuna knew that if they were open they would be a soft blue. He felt a bond begin to form between the two of them, soft and calm vibes that reminded him of the rain washed over him, and he knew this was what Yamamoto was.

 

He didn’t know when his eyes had closed, but he opened them again when he felt both the power and air around them start to simmer down. Alongside the feelings that connected him to Gokudera, he felt another presence, one that he assumed was Yamamoto. While Gokudera’s energy was unyielding and powerful, Yamamoto’s was calm and protective, and instantly he felt his heart rest. 

 

“Tsuna?” Yamamoto’s voice called, and Tsuna shook himself out of his daze to find Yamamoto had moved closer to him, his hands on Tsuna’s shoulders. He felt self-conscious about his own body compared to the baseball player’s, but then scratched that thought. He couldn’t let Gokudera and now Yamamoto know what he felt about himself. 

 

“I’m okay, how do you feel?” Tsuna asked, stopping himself from saying ‘Takeshi’. While Yamamoto  _ had  _ given him permission, it felt wrong to Tsuna - as if he was pushing in on a friendship he doesn’t deserve. 

 

“I’m good Tsuna, the bond worked,” Yamamoto laughed, and Tsuna found himself smiling along with him. He wasn’t sure if Yamamoto was knowingly do it, but he was sending calming vibes along their bond and Tsuna felt much more at peace. 

 

Tsuna gave a small smile up at the boy. “Thank you, Takeshi.”

 

\--

 

The next day Gokudera found himself walking beside his beloved boss, the stupid baseball player and the fox-girl that his boss loved. Tsuna hadn’t explained much, just that Hana wanted him to walk Kyoko to school, and he said that he would. 

 

His boss had also mentioned that he had a Summoner’s fight with a student named Mochida Kensuke that he couldn’t back away from, and both Gokudera and Yamamoto had jumped at the chance to fight for their Summoner, which Tsuna didn’t seem happy with. Gokudera wasn’t entirely sure why, though.

 

Reborn was no help either. When Gokudera asked him, Reborn had simply replied with “it’s something that Tsuna needs to do, and will need your help with it, as well as Yamamoto’s.” which Gokudera wasn’t happy with.

 

“Tenth, are you sure you want to go through with this?” Gokudera asked for the fifth time, looking down at his boss. He noticed that Kyoko also shot Tsuna a worried look, and Yamamoto was looking at them out of the corner of his eye.

 

“I have to, Hayato,” that was another thing. After Gokudera had heard Tsuna call Yamamoto by his first name, he demanded that Tsuna do the same for him. 

 

(“Tenth! If that baseball freak lets you call him by his first name, then please use mine too!” 

 

“Gokudera I can’t- it was only a one time thing-”

 

“Please Tenth! It would mean the world to me!”)

 

Gokudera huffed, annoyed that he couldn’t get through to Tsuna, and was about to point out something else, when Kyoko smiled at him. “Tsuna wont back down now, Hana and I have both tried. But with you two as his Familiars, he won’t lose.”

 

“It’s not losing that I’m worried about.”

 

\--

 

The school day went by very quickly for Tsuna. True to her word, Hana had arrived at lunch time from what Tsuna assumes was a doctor appointment. She laughed when she arrived at the roof to find a very annoyed Tsuna with a golden retriever laying on his lap and a red-tailed hawk sitting in his hair. 

 

(“Stop laughing, Hana-” Tsuna had hissed out, glaring at her when she had burst into laughter at the sight.

 

Hana had simply smiled. “They love you already. It’s cute,” she had said, sitting down next to Kyoko and Reborn, who had also shown up with her.)

 

The bell had gone, and Tsuna quickly found himself walking to the gym with his friends plus Reborn in tow. While the baby looked out of place, sitting in Tsuna’s hair, he had said that he wanted to see what his student would do, and Tsuna really couldn’t get him to leave. 

 

As he reached the gym he could hear the whispers around him and frowned. He didn’t really get why the other students felt the need to gossip, was it that hard to believe that he would show up? 

 

(He knew Reborn would slap him for such a stupid thought. He was known as Useless Tsuna for a reason.)

 

He walked into the gym and motioned for Hana and Kyoko to wait off at the side with the small gathering of students. He felt Reborn jump off his head and looked to see Kyoko carrying him in her arms. He felt better knowing they were out of the way, and turned his attention to Mochida and his Familiar, who were both talking with their backs turned to him. 

 

“Oi!  _ Sfigato _ !” Gokudera called out, stepping forward so that he was in front of Tsuna. Tsuna noticed that Yamamoto did the same, but the smile on his face had turned icy.

 

Mochida turned to face them, his Familiar (a broad-shouldered boxer called Ieyoshi Ryunosuke) standing behind him. “Well!” Mochida clapped, a smirk making its way onto his face. “You showed up, and with friends? Cute.” 

 

“Mochida, I’ll give you one last warning to stand down,” Tsuna said softly, eyes narrowing. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt his entire body heat up. And from the surprised looks on his Familiars’ faces, he knew it was all him. “Kyoko clearly doesn’t want to date you, and I’m not surprised with how you treat her. She isn’t an object.” 

 

The Kendo captain huffed, crossing his arms. “I aint backing down, Useless Tsuna. However, if you want to back down then feel free to.”

 

“Never.”

 

“Then I guess it’s settled. Where’s your Familiar huh? Can’t fight a Summoners battle without one,” Mochida sneered, pretending to look around.

 

Tsuna stiffened at the laughter that followed, wanting to run away for a second until he remembered why he was doing this. He looked up at both Gokudera and Yamamoto, who both were more worried than anything. He nodded. 

His Familiars nodded back and both smiled at him, before turning to face Mochida while standing in front of Tsuna like a shield. The laughter dimmed to a hush when both boys stepped forward. 

 

“Right here,” Gokudera growled, teeth bared. Tsuna could feel his anger through their bond, and subconsciously sent some support to him. 

 

Yamamoto, meanwhile, had his frozen smile in place again, one hand on his hip and the other clenched. His presence in Tsuna’s mind was calming and protective. “Tsuna also has me,” Yamamoto declared, making the whispers start again. 

 

Tsuna smiled to himself, already glad that his friends were standing by him. In front of them, Mochida scoffed. “No way. There’s no way someone like you, Yamamoto, would be a Familiar for such a weak Summoner.” 

 

“But I am,” Yamamoto clapped back, stepping aside and rolling up Tsuna’s sleeve to show the two tattooed marks on his arm. A hawk’s claw representing Yamamoto and a dog’s paw representing Gokudera. Both were blue and red, respectively. “And you made a big mistake when you challenged him.” 

 

“And now he has both of us protecting him,” Gokudera added, looking absolutely murderous at this stage. Tsuna really needed to get him to keep his anger in check, Gokudera currently was the most dangerous one. 

 

Mochida scoffed again, stepping forward. “Fine, whatever. But only one of you can fight with him, since I only have one Familiar. That’s the rule.” 

 

Tsuna sighed. He thought that would be the case. Both Yamamoto and Gokudera turned to him, with different expressions. Gokudera looked like he was about to murder someone, while Yamamoto kept his anger behind the mask of an icy smile. He really didn’t want to choose between the two, but he would have to. 

 

He bit his lip. “Hayato, can I ask for you to stand down for this one?” he requested politely, keeping his eyes downcast. He didn’t know why he was this anxious,  _ he  _ was the Summoner after all. “I’m sorry but I think Takeshi will be better suited for this.” 

 

He heard a growl and looked up, only to see Gokudera’s body slump and a sigh escape his mouth. “If that’s what you wish, Tenth,” the dog said softly, trying not to look dejected. 

 

“Thank you,” Tsuna smiled softly at him, giving his canine Familiar a small yet tight hug. He was pleased when Gokudera hugged him back, and he stepped back so that the taller boy could go wait with Hana, Kyoko and Reborn. 

 

Tsuna watched him go, then looked up at Yamamoto. The audience that had gathered around them was quiet, watching the two pairs of fighters with interest. Tsuna ignored them though, coming to stand beside his second Familiar. “Ready?” 

 

Tsuna nodded, turning his attention back to Mochida and Ieyoshi, who both settled for glaring. The announcer for the fight stepped forward, a white flag in her right hand raised. Tsuna was inwardly pleased to see that it was someone not from the kendo club, so he knew it would be a fair match. 

 

“The rules for the Summoners Fight are simple. The first Familiar and Summoner to be knocked down lose. Any severe injuries result in an automatic disqualification. Both the Summoner and the Familiar are fighting in this battle, and the Familiar must be in animal form. Any questions?” 

 

All four participants shook their heads. Tsuna bit his lip and looked at Yamamoto, who gave him a reassuring grin. “Don’t worry Tsuna, I won’t let you get hurt. Just trust in what I can do,” the boy said, putting a hand on Tsuna’s shoulder. 

 

While the Summoner wasn’t entirely convinced, he did feel a bit relieved at Yamamoto’s confident tone. He nodded, silently giving Yamamoto the okay to transform. 

 

And transform he did. For in Yamamoto’s place, a beautiful big red-tailed hawk stood. The hawk reached up to Tsuna’s thighs, and quickly changed to hover in the air. They both turned to Ieyoshi and Mochida, who did the same thing. Ieyoshi took a deep breath and let his body hover off the floor as he transformed into his animal; a lion. In terms of prey and predator, Mochida certainly had the upperhand. 

 

But Tsuna wouldn’t let that stop him. 

 

“Alright. If the contestants are ready,” the announcer paused, looking to both sides. Tsuna nodded at the same time Yamamoto did, then Mochida followed suit with a smirk while Ieyoshi simply stared. “Then we will begin,” she finished, bringing the flag down and stepping back. 

 

The fight started and Yamamoto moved so quickly that Tsuna barely had time to blink. The hawk soared through the air towards his feline opponent, claws in front as he made contact, sending them both flying. Even Mochida was surprised, the smirk gone from his face. Though he was still the first one to move between the two Summoner’s, running forward with his kendo stick and catching Tsuna by surprise, giving him barely any time to bring his arms up to block. 

 

“Come on Sawada,” Mochida laughed, unfazed by the block as he swung down again. This time, however, Tsuna dodged instead of blocked. He ducked underneath the stick and swung to the side, making Mochida stumble forward. 

 

He glanced towards the animals for a moment, relieved that Yamamoto seemed to be holding his own, and even seemed to be winning. He didn’t have much time to watch though, because Mochida let out a yell and swung forward again. 

 

Tsuna knew he wouldn’t win simply by dodging, and he didn’t want to rely solely on Yamamoto to win. Biting his lip, he dodged again by stepping backwards. Using that momentum, he bent his knees slightly and kicked his right leg up, catching Mochida’s ribs with his right knee and causing a  _ crack  _ sound. 

 

He watched Mochida grunt and stumble back, a hand going to his ribs. For a second Tsuna was worried that he had broken the boy’s ribs despite not hitting that hard (and the silence from everyone else told him that they thought he did too), but was relieved when Mochida simply yelled and ran forward with his kendo stick again. He was taken by surprise when Mochida swung from the side, the stick colliding with his chest and sending him stumbling to the left with a exclamation of pain. 

 

Tsuna really needed to end this, and quickly. Mochida wasn’t going to give up and he knew that someone would get hurt if it went on. He sent a cry for help through his bond with Yamamoto and stepped back a bit from Mochida. It didn’t take long for Yamamoto to be at his side, flying around him. “Mochida, please, just accept that Kyoko isn’t a possession and doesn’t want to be around you.” 

 

“Never,” Mochida barked, running forward again with Ieyoshi next to him. Tsuna sighed. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing but he figured Yamamoto might have an idea on what to do. Looking at the bird, he gave a small nod to let Yamamoto know that he trusted him to take charge. 

 

For a moment, he was worried that Yamamoto hadn’t understood, but quickly realised that the bird had in fact understood when he felt power surge both through and around him. Mochida and Ieyoshi had realised too because they stopped their assault with wide eyes. 

 

Tsuna closed his eyes as Yamamoto flew to hover above him, and let the power of his Familiar flow through him. He felt something cold on the floor below him, and opened his eyes to find water circling around him. He heard Yamamoto caw, and realised this was his power. Holding his hands out, he felt water flow through his arms and to his finger tips, and released it with a grunt. The water flew from his hands and at his two opponents, circling them before pushing them up against the wall. He held them there, looking at the referee who nodded, raising the white flag. 

 

“Sawada and his Familiar, Yamamoto, win this Summoner’s Duel,” she called, and Tsuna sighed with relief as he and Yamamoto released their power. He watched Mochida and Ieyoshi slump to the ground. 

 

Ieyoshi transformed back into his human form, while Mochida stumbled to get up. For a moment, Tsuna was worried that he had really hurt him, but the other boy simply huffed and picked up his stick. “You might have won this time, Sawada, but it’s not over,” he sighed, crossing his arms. “However, I do keep my word. I’ll leave Kyoko alone.” 

 

Tsuna smiled, feeling Yamamoto hover next to him before transforming back. “Thanks Mochida.” 

 

He didn’t get much time to respond, as Yamamoto cheered and grabbed Tsuna, picking him up off the floor with a hug. He heard Kyoko and Hana run over to join in and Gokudera yelling his compliments as he usually does. 

 

“That was amazing Tsuna!” Kyoko chirped, looking way too happy considering she just watched her best friend fight. But hey, she was a bit strange. Yamamoto put Tsuna down and stepped back, allowing Hana to check him for injuries. 

 

Tsuna bit his lip when he felt her touch his side, and she gave him The Look. “I’ll let you look at it at home,” he promised. 

 

“It’s good to know you’re not entirely useless in a fight,” Reborn piped up, and Tsuna gave him a half hearted glare. “Means that I can finally share the good news. But first we should get home. Hibari is on his way.” 

 

“Oh-” Tsuna squeaked, looking around. The groups of students were slowly pouring out of the main entrance now that the fight was over. “Lets get out of here then!” he grimaced, speeding out of the back entrance of the gym. 

 

He heard Gokudera yell out after him and assumed the others followed. He didn’t want to be bitten to death, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im so sorry about how badly written this was. ive never written a fight scene before but i do want to write more so they'll definitely get better as we go along. 
> 
> a few things to point out: 
> 
> \- the names. i know that in japan its impolite to call someone by their first name unless you are close with them or they have given permission, and i know that tsuna would find it impolite to do so. so yamamoto giving him permission was basically him saying "yeah you can do it lol we're besties now" bc thats the type of person he is. gokudera mainly said it bc he wants to be closer to his boss. 
> 
> \- the animals. im going for animals based on their personalities. i feel like a golden retriever suits gokudera perfectly. they're smart and loyal dogs, and are generally very happy too. a hawk fits yamamoto due to his sharp eye and sporty personality. the others will be given reasons as i introduce them. and because of the chapter title of the first chapter, you might have realised that reborn is a raven. that one is self explanatory, but he wont show his animal form until later on. and tsuna doesn't even know that reborn is a familiar.
> 
> \- the summoners duel. the rules mentioned are the general ones, but the duel rules can change depending on who's fighting and what they hope to achieve by a duel. 
> 
> \- familiars cannot use their powers unless they're in animal form, thus is the difference between flame user familiars and normal familiars. flame users (basically as is in canon) can use their other powers as humans. 
> 
> \- the story is basically gonna divert from canon from here on. some aspects will be the same but mostly it'll be mainly different.
> 
> come scream at me at my tumblr @here-among-the-stars-is-home  
> send me asks about this story or kingdom hearts! i also have a khr/kh crossover fic planned so ask about that too! 
> 
> thanks for reading! as always, kudos and comments are highly recommended and appreciated! <3


	5. Cow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here he come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO SORRY guys I haven't been posting I know! Thank you for the kind comments, they mean a lot and I feel horrible for not updating. I've been very busy, I've started Uni this year and I've only just gone on break. I have been writing, but I haven't been able to write for more than an hour at a time. And with my computer broken, I only have an iPad to write on as well as access to the Uni computers, but I don't get access often.  
> Thank you for being so patient, I'm sorry this chapter is so short but more is definitely coming!
> 
> I also want to point out a few things:   
> The Familiars have characteristics of their animals whilst they're human! Which means yes, Gokudera has dog ears and a dog tail. I've only just added this feature in by the way so that's the way it'll be for the next few chapters.   
> This also means Lambo has cow ears and an actual cow tail, Kyoko has fox ears and a fox tail, Yamamoto often sheds feathers, and more characters as they're introduced will have their characteristics described. Of course, this also applies to psychological characteristics. 
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos, tell me what you think! Comments in particular motivate me to write more!

Not many people messed with Tsuna following his fight with Mochida. The Kendo captain kept his word and hadn’t approached Kyoko other than to apologise to her, to which she accepted his apology after making him promise to treat girls with more respect in the future. Tsuna’s still pretty sure Mochida only promised because Hana scared him into promising. She could be scary when she wanted to be.

 

It was the Monday after the fight and Tsuna could feel eyes on him as he walked into school, despite his wish to stay in the background. Yamamoto and Gokudera flanked him from both sides, while Kyoko and Hana walked ahead of them. Tsuna kept his head down, avoiding the stares of the other students, and tried to head as quickly as he could to his class.

 

(He knew Reborn was laughing his ass off from whatever hiding spot he was in.)

 

“Tsuna you’re so popular now,” Kyoko - bless her heart - smiled sweetly at him as they sat at their desks. Tsuna also realised that Yamamoto, Gokudera, Hana and Kyoko sat very close to him, and he counted his blessing that he was at least next to his friends.

 

Hana snorted. “At least those bullies are hanging off for now,” she added, arms crossed as she leant back into her chair. Tsuna envied her, she was smart and firm and wasn’t apparently destined to become the boss of a big and strong mafia family.

 

“Che, those _idiotas_ don’t deserve to be in the same school as Tenth,” Gokudera grumbled. Apparently he and Yamamoto had determined that they would become Tsuna’s bodyguards after the fight, and Tsuna was pretty sure Reborn was the cause of that, if his smirk when Tsuna woke up to find both boys in his house had anything to say about that.

 

Yamamoto laughed - Tsuna wasn’t even sure if he understood entirely what was going on - and plopped down in his spot. “At least they know how badass Tsuna is now! He was amazing in that fight.”

 

“You did most of it, Takeshi-”

 

“Nope, you were the one who was in control of the fight,” Yamamoto said, his grin softening into a genuine smile. “You’re the Summoner, not me. I just did what you were telling me to.”

 

Tsuna blinked, looking at him. “What? I didn’t tell you to do anything.”

 

“You don’t know?” Yamamoto asked, smile disappearing. Tsuna noticed with disdain that Hana was staring at him, while Gokudera and Kyoko had wide eyes. “Tsuna.”

 

“Eh- uh-” Tsuna stammered over his words, not really knowing what to say when all of his friends were looking at him like he didn’t know how to do something simple like eating.

 

Hana leaned forward, frowning. “You don’t know how to be a Summoner, do you?”

 

Tsuna shook his head, biting his lip and looking down. He felt self-conscious, his hands unconsciously scratching the skin on his arms, easily accessible because his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. He heard Yamamoto laugh, and wondered what was so funny, but his hawk’s next words stopped him from saying anything. “Y’know, I don’t actually know much about it either. Maybe we could all learn together.”

 

“Tenth!” Gokudera’s voice called out, and Tsuna looked up to find Gokudera’s face close to his with his eyes wide and his hands now gripping Tsuna’s. He knew Gokudera could feel and see his scars, but luckily the dog didn’t mention it. “I will learn with you! I trust you to be the best Summoner ever, and I will help you achieve that!”

 

“We’ll help too,” Kyoko smiled, head laying on Hana’s shoulder as she smiled at her boy best friend.

 

Hana nodded, not minding Kyoko on her. Though Kyoko was more like a sister to her, Tsuna knew that Hana would always let her fox give her as much affection as she needed to release. “I can teach you, Sawada. We can add it to your daily tutor sessions,” the female Summoner said kindly.

 

“E-everyone…” Tsuna managed to get out. His eyes welled up with tears, overwhelmed with how much he loved his friends - even if he hadn’t been friends with Gokudera and Yamamoto for as long as he had Kyoko and Hana.

 

He felt something land on his head, and raised his eyes to find Reborn sitting in his hair, with a smirk on his face. “You’ve found a good _Famiglia_ Useless Tsuna.”

 

Tsuna found himself smiling at Reborn’s words.

 

\--

 

“Wrong.” _Bang._

 

Tsuna groaned aloud and rubbed at his arm, where a bullet had grazed it. Reborn had taken to shooting at him whenever he got a question on his homework wrong. Of course, Reborn only ever missed by inches or just grazed him, but it still hurt.

 

(He refused to admit that the technique worked. He no longer got as many questions wrong.)

 

What worried him more, though, was the gunshots didn’t faze any of his friends. While Hana was the only one tutoring him, Kyoko visited to do her own homework with her friends instead of alone. Yamamoto and Gokudera started joining them after they found out how much Tsuna was falling behind by. At first, Kyoko was scared by the gunshots, but had gotten used to them, as had his other friends too.

 

That was what scared him the most.

 

“Useless Tsuna, you got four questions wrong. I thought you were starting to understand the work this time,” Reborn stated deadpan, jumping onto the desk to look at the boy.

 

Tsuna groaned, tugging at his hair. His friends had caught onto his skin scratching habit and now watched him like a hawk (quite literally, in Yamamoto’s case). It made dealing with things a lot harder, but he couldn’t blame them. He knew they worried about him, and to be fair he didn’t talk about anything with them, especially with his past. So now, he chose to tug at his hair to deal with things that stressed him out. “I do-! But this dumb worksheet is tough!”

 

Hana reached over, taking the sheet into her hands and looking it over. “Strange…” she murmured, raising an eyebrow.

 

“What is it?” Kyoko asked, looking over her shoulder with Gokudera and Yamamoto looking at them with curiosity.

 

“Sawada’s sheet is completely different to ours,” the female Summoner said, holding up both Tsuna’s sheet and her own for comparison. “His is filled with university-level questions.”

 

Yamamoto blinked and Gokudera’s eyes widened. “Holy shit,” the dog breathed, looking down the sheet. “Tenth you got… 11 questions right. That’s incredible.”

 

“But wait,” Kyoko butted in, looking at Hana and Yamamoto, who both looked ready to murder someone, and Gokudera, who was ready to storm over to their teacher’s house and demand what had happened. “Why is Tsuna’s different?”

 

“My guess would be that your teacher has noticed Tsuna getting his homework done correctly, and is trying to embarrass him,” Reborn butted in, frowning. Tsuna managed to hide his shock at seeing Reborn on his side, for once.

 

Gokudera let out a growl, canine teeth showing over his lips as he clenched his fists. “That bastard.”

 

“Isn’t that illegal?” Yamamoto asked, turning to look at both Reborn and Hana. “I mean, either way it’s not right.”

 

Hana sighed, shaking her head and putting the sheet back down. “It’s not illegal, but you’re right. This isn’t what that creepy old teacher should be doing. He should be glad Sawada is showing how smart he actually is.”

 

At that, Reborn jumped down off the table and nodded, the sheet in his hands. “I’ll deal with this. For now, Tsuna help your _Famiglia_ with their homework,” he said, looking at his student. Instead of arguing, Tsuna nodded. He knew that Reborn wasn’t entirely happy with the situation and figured that instead he wouldn’t argue. The baby hitman turned to the others. “Yamamoto, do you mind sharing your work with Tsuna? The two of you can take it in turns working out problems. Hana, mark their work.”

 

Both of the mentioned students nodded, Yamamoto scratching the back of his head. “Right right, that’s good because I kinda don’t understand it either,” he said, laughing a little.

 

“Che, of course you don’t,” Gokudera scoffed, and Reborn held back a smile at that.

 

He slipped away while the others were focused on the building argument between Yamamoto and Gokudera, feeling Tsuna watch him leave.

 

His student was getting better with observing.

 

\--

 

It wasn’t until the next homework hangout that something changed. Tsuna was still getting hard worksheets, so he ended up helping his friends instead. Reborn claimed that he was still working on a solution, but the baby had turned his attention to Tsuna’s friends instead.

 

While Tsuna was helping Yamamoto with his sheet, a blur of movement outside his window caught his eye. It was a… strange cow?

 

When the figure stopped moving, Tsuna could see that it was actually a child in a cow outfit, complete with horns on his head.

 

“Reborn, there’s a baby outside the window,” he said, his friends all looking up to see where he was looking.

 

Reborn shrugged. “Not important, back to work.”

 

While his friends went back to work after a few seconds, Tsuna kept looking. He wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t important. With the window open slightly to let cool air in (Kyoko’s request), Tsuna could hear giggling coming from the baby with a loud cry of “Reborn! I’m here for you!” following.

 

“Reborn, I think he wants you,” Tsuna continued, looking over at his tutor.

 

Reborn looked up, dark eyes glinting with annoyance for a second before he schooled his features once again. But it lingered long enough for Tsuna to catch it. “Nope. I don’t associate myself with those below me.”

Tsuna sweatdropped at that. But, everyone was looking out the window again so maybe it’ll get resolved.

 

Kyoko gasped, finally noticing the baby, and walked over to the window, opening it up more and leaning out slightly. “Are you lost?” she called softly, holding a hand out towards the child.

 

The child laughed. “Bwahahaha! I, the great Lambo, am not lost!” he screeched, forcing Tsuna to cover his ears and wince at the loud voice. Kyoko didn’t seem phased, Yamamoto laughed and Gokudera looked like he was close to throwing the child (Lambo) away from the house.

 

Hana, however, screamed out and crawled backwards, her back hitting the wall as she stared at Lambo with what seemed to be disdain and fear.

 

“Hana? Are you okay?” Tsuna asked, looking over at her.

 

“I- I hate kids,” she ground out, hands shaking slightly as she attempted to get as far away from Lambo as she could without actually leaving the room (Tsuna suspected it was because her instincts were screaming for her to stay by Kyoko).

 

Reborn sighed, jumping down from the table and walking over to the window. He jumped up onto Kyoko’s shoulder then from there jumped onto the windowsill. “Sorry. Snot-nosed brats aren’t allowed here,” he said blankly, forming Leon into a rocket-launcher and shooting a missile at the kid, sending him flying into the sky, screeching as he did so. The baby-tutor shrugged, closing the door and turning back to the students who were all staring at him with varying expressions.

 

“Reborn, that sounded like it hurt him,” Kyoko said, looking out the window worriedly.

 

The baby tutor smiled at the girl, pulling her back towards the group. “He’ll be fine. Something like that won’t hurt him,” he explained with a soft voice, most likely to reassure Kyoko so she wouldn’t worry.

 

Hana sighed in relief, moving back to her spot at the table. “Right, Sawada, do you know the answer to question 5?” she asked, acting like nothing had happened.

 

“Uh, 47?” Tsuna managed to get out, distracted by what had just happened.

Hana rolled her eyes, nodding to Reborn who had transformed Leon into a gun, and sent a warning shot right next to Tsuna’s head, making him jump.

 

“Wrong. 42.”

 

\--

 

An hour later, and it happened again. This time, Lambo had scared everyone but Reborn by smashing through the window, much to Tsuna’s chagrin.

 

“Bwahahaha! The great Lambo has arrived yet again!” The cow-child called cheerfully, bits of glass sticking out of his body. He didn’t seem to mind though, laughing as loud as he could. “And I, the great Lambo, will finally take Reborn out!”

 

Oh. This wasn’t good. Tsuna began to panic over how much noise they were making. He didn’t know how he’d explain the situation to his mother. “Reborn-“

 

“Die,” the baby hitman said simply, shooting at Lambo.

 

Lambo squealed, dodging just in time. However as he dodged, he fell flat on his face, and lifted his head up with tears in his eyes. “T-The great Lambo has tripped! Hold… It… In…” he grounded out, clenching his fists and standing up.

 

Kyoko gasped, running over to him and picking him up gently in her arms. “Are you okay-? Oh, I can heal you-!”

 

“Kyoko…” Hana warned, looking torn between wanting to protect her Familiar and wanting to stay away from the child.

 

The half-fox shook her head, emanating a soft orange glow as she transformed into a fox, making Lambo stop crying as he stared at the now fox standing next to him (as a fox, Kyoko is smaller so she had to drop him). Kyoko leant her head against Lambo’s, the orange glow surrounding them both, and a minute later Lambo’s injuries had vanished.

Lambo squealed, in happiness this time, as the pain disappeared from his body. He watched Kyoko transform back into a human and pick him up, smiling at him. “The great Lambo thanks you for your help! You may now become my subordinate!”

 

“Okay!” Kyoko chirped cheerfully, playing along.

 

Tsuna sighed. He was thankful for her but he still didn’t know what to do. Thankfully, Yamamoto felt his distress and stepped in to help; leaning forward in his chair as he looked at Lambo. “Hey kid, where ya from?”

 

“Italy! My family sent me here to kill Reborn!”

 

Holy… Tsuna got the feeling that Lambo’s family wanted to get rid of him, but he couldn’t be sure. Right now, this was just a feeling he had. Albeit a very strong feeling.

 

“A mission doomed to fail,” Reborn said dryly, hopping down from the desk to the floor. “You’re annoying. Go away,” he added, turning back to Tsuna. “Back to work.”

 

Tsuna sighed, looking at Kyoko. “Kyoko, could you take him down to my mum and ask her to look after him? We should get this homework done.”

 

Kyoko nodded, looking down at the child in her arms. “Do you want some candy, Lambo?” she asked as she walked out of the room. The group could hear the cow-child squeal in delight as they slowly got harder to hear.

 

“Thank god,” Hana sighed in relief, coming back to the table. Gokudera let out a snort, dog ears twitching as he held in a laugh, to which Hana glared at him. “What?”

 

Sensing the venom, he instantly stopped.

 

\--

 

Lambo became a permanent resident after that, still trying to kill Reborn (which often ended up in him getting punted into the sun or blowing himself up. Tsuna doesn’t even know why the kid tries) but ultimately acting his proper age.

 

Reborn had let Tsuna know that yes Lambo was a _Familiar,_ a cow to be exact. Which made sense, but it still made Tsuna a bit wary.

 

He was still worried that Lambo’s family, the Bovino, had sent Lambo on a suicide mission. It was something he’d have to look into.

 

\--

 

“… Sasagawa?” Tsuna blinked, sleepy eyes not comprehending the person in front of him.

 

It was 5 am in the morning, and Ryohei Sasagawa was standing outside his house, fully clothed and ready for school. Tsuna was pretty sure everyone else was still asleep, and he wished he was too. But Reborn heard the door and sent Tsuna down to open it, then immediately fell back asleep.

 

“Hey, Sawada! I’ve come to ask you to join the boxing club!” The boxer exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air and looking entirely too happy to be up at 5 in the morning.

 

Tsuna flinched at the loud voice, and instantly put his finger to his lips to shush the boxer. Thankfully, it seemed that no one else woke up. He stepped out of the house, leaving the door open slightly and walking down to the boxer. He could see a tail behind Ryohei, curled slightly at the end and golden in colour. “Sasagawa, what are you talking about?”

 

Ryohei grinned, this time thankfully speaking quieter. “I want to ask you to join the boxing club, Sawada. I saw your fight last week and it fueled me to work harder! And having you on the team will only make us stronger!”

 

Tsuna sweatdropped at the boxing club’s captain’s enthusiasm. But… “I’m sorry Sasagawa, I’m not interested,” he said, as politely as he could.

 

“That’s okay Sawada!” Ryohei said, not at all put down. “I’ll ask you again later. Also, call me big brother! You’re like a brother to Kyoko, and that makes you a brother of mine!”

 

Not giving Tsuna any time to reply, he ruffled the smaller boy’s hair before turning and running off, most likely to do another lap of Nami-Mori.

 

Tsuna sighed, shaking his head. He’d never understand Ryohei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next few chapters, I'll introduce my OC. 
> 
> My tumblr: among-the-stars-is-home


	6. Kangaroo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ryohei appears and some bonding happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY THIS ISN'T LONG but i really needed to get something out, and i feel like over 3000 words is good enough!
> 
> no bonding in this chapter but i feel like ryohei wouldn't want to bond right away?? idk  
> his animal form isn't mentioned but yes he is a kangaroo bc i feel like that suits him more? lmk what y'all think 
> 
> i'll try and get another chapter or two up soon, but it's hard :(( uni is kicking my butt and i'm lacking motivation to write. 
> 
> please LEAVE COMMENTS!! they motivate me, and i love hearing what people think!!! 
> 
> also yes this is where the story diverts from canon into au so hopefully it's going well!

True to his word, Ryohei asked Tsuna again every day for the next week, which pissed Gokudera off to no end. Tsuna wasn’t sure if the dog fought with Yamamoto or Ryohei more, but it was honestly close. However, every time Ryohei asked, Tsuna’s answer remained the same.

 

Until Ryohei changed tactics.

 

“You want me to what?” Tsuna asked, staring at the boxer who was grinning. Kyoko stood behind Tsuna with Hana next to her, both girls looking embarrassed and annoyed, respectively. “You want me to come see the boxing club?”

 

Ryohei nodded excitedly. “This afternoon, after school! You can’t say yes because you haven’t seen the club!” he exclaimed, as if it all made sense. Tsuna was very glad that Gokudera was home sick for the day and Yamamoto was with his baseball buddies, he didn’t want a fight to start.

 

“Big brother-“

 

“It’s okay, Kyoko,” Ryohei said cheerfully, slinging an arm around his younger sister’s shoulders. “I won’t force Sawada to join, but I do want him to come along to practice! Maybe we can spar!”

 

Okay. That’s a bad idea. “Wait Sasagawa- I really don’t want to spar, but I’ll come see the club-“

 

Ryohei grinned, turning back to the _Summoner_ with a more happy expression, rather than his usual grin. “Extreme! I’ll see you then!” he exclaimed, giving Tsuna’s back an energetic pat before running off back down the hall.

 

Tsuna sighed in relief, rubbing his shoulder where he was hit. At least that was over with. Hearing Hana snort, he looked at his two friends. “He might be Kyoko’s brother, but that monkey couldn’t be more different.”

 

“At least he asked this time,” Kyoko said softly, a small nervous smile on her face. She was right, the last time Ryohei wanted Tsuna to come to the club, instead of asking he had picked up the small brunette, slung him over his shoulders, and began sprinting to the club. It took Kyoko using her cute, watery eyes to stop him.

Tsuna gave her a reassuring smile, knowing that she tends to feel very embarrassed by how her brother acts sometimes. “Yeah, and I’ll drop by the club this afternoon. Wanna come?”

 

Both girls nodded, and he smiled at them both.

 

\--

 

Having sat in on a lot of sparring fights, Kyoko knew the clubroom like the back of her hand. Sometimes, her older brother would invite her to help out with the club and after her first time there, the other members have come to care about her as much as Ryohei does.

 

She followed Tsuna and Hana, and now Yamamoto, into the clubroom. The baseball idol had joined up with them after the last period and was also curious as to what the boxing club looked like, but Kyoko knew he was also there to keep an eye on things, which she was thankful for. While she loved her brother, she knew that when it came to boxing he tended to get a bit over the top.

 

“Ah, Sawada!” Ryohei’s voice boomed once they entered, and on instinct everyone nearby covered their ears. “Glad you came!”

 

“Sasagawa,” Tsuna said politely, nodding his head slightly. Kyoko could see that he had no intention of joining the club, but came just to be nice, and her heart swelled. She knew her brother could be a bit off-putting.

 

Ryohei walked over to them, grinning at Yamamoto who grinned back, before looking down at Tsuna with more of a smile. “What do you think?”

 

\--

 

Tsuna sighed, flopping down onto his bed tiredly and with a huff. “I can’t believe he made me train with him for two hours,” he groaned.

 

“It’s good, that’s what your training regimen should be,” Reborn’s baby voice chirped from his side, making Tsuna look up from his pillow and at the baby hitman instead. “But I’m being nice.”

“I don’t think you classify as nice,” Tsuna grumbled, yelping to avoid being hit by a green hammer. “B-But I appreciate it-!”

 

Reborn smiled, almost creepily (in Tsuna’s eyes). “Good. Learn to appreciate things like training, you’ll need them when you become boss,” he said, not waiting for a response as he jumped down from the bed and walked over to his hammock. “By the way, I have something to do tomorrow so don’t wait up. You’ll be going shopping on your own.”

 

“What?” Tsuna sat up, squinting at Reborn suspiciously. “What do _you_ have to do tomorrow?”

 

“Something important, none of your concern,” the baby said with a sharp, cold eye staring at his student, as if daring him to probe for more answers. “I’ve also asked Mama if you can take Lambo with you. Maybe ask Kyoko and Hana if they want to come. It’ll be a fun day out,” he said.

 

Tsuna stared suspiciously at the baby as he left the room.

 

\--

“Thanks for coming with me, Kyoko,” Tsuna said with a smile, turning to face the girl next to him as they walked through the bustling town. He had ended up asking Kyoko if she wanted to come after Reborn left, and she thankfully said. Lambo was content to sit in her arms for now, so all Tsuna had to worry about was the shopping. Although… “It was nice of Sasagawa to come along too.”

 

Tsuna supposed he was just lucky Gokudera and Yamamoto weren’t with them. As far as he knew, Yamamoto was back to practicing baseball and Gokudera didn’t know where they were.

 

Kyoko giggled a bit, watching her brother look around in amazement as though he had never been shopping before (Tsuna wondered if he had, actually). “It’s okay Tsuna! I’ve been meaning to come shopping too, but Hana doesn’t like it and my other friend has been busy. And it’s nice to see Lambo again.”

 

“Lambo likes his sub-ordinate carrying him,” the baby cow declared, making Tsuna sweatdrop. The baby had a temporary home in the Sawada household (Nana just seemed to be adopting people these days), since they couldn’t find anything on him and weren’t sure if he had a home to go back to. Tsuna felt a bit bad, since he had a feeling Lambo’s family didn’t want him back and had sent him to Reborn to get rid of him, but he couldn’t prove it.

“Sawada! In here!” Ryohei yelled suddenly, breaking Tsuna out of his thoughts by yanking him into what seemed to be a sports shop.

Tsuna yelped, stumbling into the shop after Ryohei. He could hear Kyoko laugh at him, making his cheeks red, and soon enough the small group all stood inside the sports store. Looking around, Tsuna could see how Ryohei was attracted to it. It seemed to be a new shop too, because from the looks of things Kyoko has never seen it before, and Tsuna knows he hasn’t either.

“What are you looking for, Sasagawa?” Tsuna asked, looking up at the boxer. He looked around nervously, he wasn’t sure why but he had a bad feeling about… something.

Ryohei grinned, holding up a new pair of what seemed to be boxing gloves. Tsuna sweatdropped at how happy the boxer looked, then turned to Kyoko. The girl was looking at yoga mats, not really seeming interested but probably trying to look like she was for her brother. Tsuna admired her.

“You should buy some work out gear, Sawada,” Ryohei said, next to Tsuna’s ear. Said boy jumped at the sudden noise, looking up at the boxer in confusion. “Master Pao-Pao said you were going to start joining me for work out sessions! I’m available to help you out if you need it!”

“Oh- no I’m not-“ Tsuna tried to get out, but the older boy was already going to go pay for his new gloves and what looked like rosin too. Who the hell was Master Pao-Pao? Tsuna had a suspicious feeling that it was Reborn’s doing, but he can’t prove it.

Kyoko appeared behind him, Lambo trailing by her side. “Hey, look!” the cow chirped, holding up a small bouncy ball. “Look what Kyoko got me!”

“I couldn’t help it,” the girl smiled at Tsuna, who looked defeated. “He wanted one badly, and he’s been good so far.”

Tsuna smiled back, shrugging. “He has been, yeah,” he said, implying that he didn’t mind. Tsuna crouched down in front of Lambo. “You can keep the ball, but you have to promise that you’ll keep it with you at all times and you won’t use it for anything other than playing, okay? If you lose it, you won’t get another one.”

“Promise!” the boy cheered, grinning and doing his usual laugh.

Ryohei reached them, bag in his hand. “Did you get what you needed, big brother?” Kyoko asked, turning to him.

The boxer grinned, holding up the bag. “Yeah! But it’s a secret for now!”

That made Tsuna suspicious, but he chose not to comment on it for now. “Then we sho-“ he began, only to be cut off by a massive explosion blasting through the side of the shop, sending shoppers flying and screaming with debris around them. Thinking fast, Tsuna grabbed Lambo and tackled both Sasagawa siblings to the ground, covering them all as best he could, then everything went black.

\--

“Kyoko-?” Ryohei got out, coughing as smoke and dust settled around them. The boxer sat up, feeling someones arm slip off of his back. He looked beside him to find Tsuna, Kyoko and the small child with them still out, Tsuna’s body covering both his sister and the child. Royehi felt his heart swell at the thought of Tsuna protecting his baby sister before himself.

Royehi looked around, eyes adjusting to the darkness as he found them in a small corner of the once sports shop, completely caved in. They barely had any room to move around, and from the looks of things the debris would collapse on them if they tried to dig out.

“B-big brother…?” Kyoko’s voice weakly called out, followed by some coughing. Ryohei hurriedly turned the flashlight on his phone on.

From what he could see, Kyoko looked relatively unharmed save for a few scratches and bruises. He felt relief at knowing she was fine. “Kyoko, are you alright?”

“Fine but… what happened?” she asked, looking around for a second, before realizing there were two other people unaccounted for. She gasped, sitting upright and looking around, finding Tsuna laying face down on the ground next to her, with Lambo safely tucked under his arm. “T-Tsuna-!” she breathed, shaking him gently. He groaned, but otherwise didn’t react.

“He saved you,” Ryohei said gruffly, sitting on his knees to give her some room. “Both you and the child. And I think he saved me, too.”

Kyoko sat back, rubbing her eyes as she coughed some more. Ryohei made a mental note to make sure when they got out to send her to the hospital for smoke inhalation. “There was an explosion, wasn’t there?” she asked.

“Yeah, from next door, it seems,” Ryohei said, voice quieter than usual. It was an odd situation, and he knew his loud yelling would only make matters worse.

He watched his sister, gently turn Tsuna onto his side, and he held up the light so she could examine him. He seemed fine, other than a cut on his head which was steadily oozing blood. From what he remembered of first aid, head wounds tended to bleed a bit, and it was likely Tsuna had at least suffered a concussion. Kyoko knew this too, and she ripped off her right sleeve to use as a makeshift bandage, covering her friend’s wound tightly.

With that done, she gently pried Lambo from his hands, and checked the small child over. “Lambo’s fine, just asleep I think,” she whispered quietly, holding him in her arms.

“You’re okay, Kyoko,” he said softly, reaching over and kissing her forehead gently. He pulled back, smiling at her when she gave him a tiny one, and brought Tsuna into his arms gently and slowly, making sure to keep the boy’s head and neck stable.

The smaller boy stirred, eyes scrunching up before they fluttered open, the brown in them covered in a confusion-filled haze. “S-Sasagawa…?” he managed to get out, coughing some of the smoke out. “W-What happened?”

Ryohei looked up at Kyoko, and found her frowning at the way Tsuna’s words were slurred. Definite concussion. They needed to keep him awake.  

“An explosion from next door, Tsuna,” Kyoko explained, sitting closer so that she was next to her brother, Lambo sleeping in her arms. “We’re trapped,” she added, biting her lip. She was shaking, Ryohei knew she was trying to keep it together, and he admired her for her effort, but he just wanted to hold onto her and never let her go.

“Oh,” Tsuna breathed, eyes fluttering shut once again. Ryohei shook him awake, making the boy groan but his eyes remained open nonetheless.

“No sleeping,” the boxer ordered. He was the eldest here, and so he had to do his best to keep his sister and the boy he had come to view as a brother safe, as well as the child they had with them. He liked tsuna, but after today his respect for the boy had risen, and he was surprised when the urge to protect him had appeared.

He was about to say something else, when they heard bricks and debris above them being moved around, and they all knew someone was trying to get them out.

“We’re in here! Please be careful!” Kyoko called out, coughing straight after when the stress on her lungs was too much. Ryohei was worried about how much smoke she had inhaled.

The movements outside stopped for a moment, and Ryohei knew they were probably trying to work out how to free them without killing them. He looked down at Tsuna, worried about how quiet the boy was, but was relieved to find his eyes open; hazy, but open.

He heard talking outside and more debris being moved, so he scooted over and wrapped Kyoko in his arms, keeping everyone else covered as dust began to fall over them. He heard Kyoko’s harsh breathing, Lambo’s soft breathing and felt Tsuna’s chest rise up and down, making him relieved they were all still alive and generally okay.

When the first bit of debris was moved off of them, the light hit his eyes and made him wince, but soon he got used to it, and the sound of one of the workers yelling out “we found them!” as they moved more bits of debris almost made him cry. Almost.

“Are they-?” Kyoko managed to get out, before coughing once again. Ryohei simply nodded, and slowly got off as they were finally freed.

\--

The workers had them out, and Kyoko found herself being forced to sit with a paramedic as they helped stabilize her breathing. She watched as one paramedic checked over Lambo, then looked to see Tsuna laying out on a stretched, eyes closed and eyebrows furrowed. She was relieved to see he had an actual bandage wrapped around his forehead rather than her dirty sleeve.

“Kyoko?” she heard, and turned to see Hana running over to her. She gave her Summoner a smile – or as much of a smile she could manage underneath the oxygen mask. The paramedic nodded to her, and she stood up just in time for Hana to envelop her in a tight hug.

“Hana,” she breathed shakily, legs giving out underneath her as the events of the day finally caught up to her. Luckily, her Summoner held on, and she cried into the other girl’s shoulder.

It seemed to be over.

\--

“I’m fine,” Tsuna grumbled, arms crossed as he glared at Reborn, who stood in front of him on the other end of his hospital bed.

It had been three days since the explosion – apparently it was a result of a gas pipe leaking gas, and all it took was the flame from a smoker’s lighter for it to explode – and Tsuna was finally awake. He was quickly caught up to date by Kyoko and Ryohei, who had been sitting by his bedside waiting for him to open his eyes. When he did, Ryohei gave him a bone-crushing hug, and only let go because Kyoko and the nurses worried that he might break the boy.

Kyoko had told him that Lambo was fine, the boy had slept through all of it and consequently didn’t remember anything, and she was fine after a check in at the hospital. Ryohei hadn’t received any injuries and was yelling about “EXTREME HEALTHINESS” until a nurse asked him to keep it down.

Tsuna was also relieved to find out his Familiars were fine, and were currently asleep in the waiting room, with his mother and Lambo at home. Both the dog and hawk had been panicking at their Summoner ending up in hospital and it took Reborn forcing them to rest for them to quieten down.

(“If we had been there-!”

“If you had, you would have been trapped and hurt too. Sit down, Hayato Gokudera, Takeshi Yamamoto.”

“But kid-“

“SIT. Before I make you leave.”)

Said tutor was currently staring his student down. “You almost died, Tsuna. It may have been bad luck but it shouldn’t have happened,” the baby said, something in his voice making Tsuna falter in his anger.

“Reborn were you… worried?”

“If you think this will get you out of your new training regime, you better think again,” the baby said, after hesitating for a split second. “After you heal, you will begin with Ryohei Sasagawa as soon as possible.”

The statement, while it sounded like Tsuna’s worst nightmare, only made the boy smile. His tutor had been worried, and from the sounds of it even fearful of his student dying. “Thanks Reborn,” he simply said, knowing anything more would only anger the hitman.

Reborn scoffed, but the hidden smile on his face erased any venom. He left the room, quickly closing the door behind him.

Tsuna turned to Kyoko and Ryohei, smile gone and replaced with a frown. “Are you two alright?”

“You’ve asked us a lot, Tsuna,” Kyoko giggled, placing her hand on his leg gently. “We’re fine, we’re more worried about you. You still have quite a concussion.”

Ryohei nodded, arms crossed. “You saved us, we were extremely worried about you,” the boxer said, eyebrows slightly furrowed. “I want to thank you for that, Sawada. And because of that, I extremely accept you as a little brother.”

“S-Sasagawa-“

“Call me big brother, or Ryohei,” the boxer grinned, ruffling the boy’s hair as he stood up. “You protected my sister, you’re the perfect little brother,” he added, taking his hand back and making his way out of the room.

Tsuna blinked, watching him go. He turned to Kyoko, who was silently laughing. “Kyoko,” he whined, only more confused.

“Big brother means well, I think it means that he’s finally seeing you as family,” she explained, a smile present on her face as her eyes sparkled. “It’s good Tsuna, you proved yourself to him. Even though you didn’t need to.”

“I-I just did what was right,” the boy stammered out, cheeks red from the praise. But it didn’t matter, Kyoko’s laughter and the feeling of _safe_ made him feel nothing but happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hit me up on tumblr @ here-among-the-stars-is-home! feel free to translate this fic or draw fanart for it, just make sure to credit me and link back to this fic! 
> 
> thanks for reading!


	7. Cat (Scorpion)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which the poison scorpion appears, followed shortly by a fiesty kitty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM BAcK sorry guys! been finishing up my semester at uni and then panicking about avcon, but i'm hoping to be writing more in the future! 
> 
> my oc finally appears in this, i tried to describe her as best as i could :(( i hope you like her though, as she'll be more prominent in the future
> 
> i don't really know what to say about it, but i should also note that gokudera and bianchi's relationship is going to be less comical and more angsty in this story just so i can explore sibling angst more. so he won't pass out whenever he sees her, but he will feel sick and be almost feral around her - stay tuned for that!

When Tsuna woke up that morning, two days after his release from hospital, he felt like something was off. Sure, he had Yamamoto and Gokudera in his bedroom, sleeping over (the two refused to leave him alone, due to their overprotectiveness), but he couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was something else.

He shook the thought away though, standing up and getting dressed for school. He had missed quite a bit of it, and he was determined to catch up – Hana had dropped by at the hospital to let him know she had everything he needed to catch up, and he didn’t want to disappoint her. Not when she was putting in this much effort for him.

He looked around, blinking when his bedroom was suspiciously empty. Even the futons which Yamamoto and Gokudera were sleeping on were packed away neatly.

With a shrug, Tsuna used the rare opportunity to get dressed in peace, and once his uniform was on, he headed downstairs where he heard laughter and talking. When he wondered into the kitchen he found his two wayward Familiars sitting with Lambo, Reborn and his mother, eating breakfast. So that explained their absence from his bedroom.

“Morning,” he called, walking around to kiss Nana on the cheek, before sitting down in his chair. The table gave a chorus of greetings back, but otherwise they all kept eating.

Tsuna couldn’t really blame them.

“Good morning Tsu,” Nana said sweetly, happy her son was up and about so much more now. She remembered when it was a chore just to get him out of bed, but now it seemed that he was happier and more willing to leave the house.

The thought made her smile sober. _‘Ietmitsu, you’re missing out on your son growing up’_.

\--

Once breakfast was finished, Yamamoto, Gokudera and Tsuna headed to school. Reborn had said he didn’t want to come today, which for some reason made Tsuna feel relieved. Yamamoto wondered what that was about.

“So Tsuna, how are you feeling today?” he decided to ask, sounding friendly enough. But his sharp eyes watched his Summoner for any lies that the brunette may sprout.

Tsuna sighed, knowing this question was coming. “I’m fine, just a bit tired,” he answered, and Yamamoto could tell he was genuinely telling the truth, thank god. “Seriously, they wouldn’t have let me leave the hospital if they knew I wasn’t alright.”

Yamamoto laughed, slinging an arm around the small boy’s shoulders. He looked over, noticing Gokudera was tense but wasn’t growling anymore. Good. He knew the dog’s jealousy was stressing Tsuna out.

“Te- Boss, did that Sasagawa say anything else to you about the incident?” Gokudera asked, and Yamamoto looked away. Both of them were still upset with themselves for not being there for the boy, despite the incident now having happened a week ago. Seeing their Summoner laying on a stretcher, blood seeping through a bandage on his head and his face contorted in pain only made their hearts hurt more than ever.

Tsuna shook his head, oblivious to how they felt. As far as he knew, they had forgiven themselves as Reborn suggested. “No, just what he said in front of Kyoko,” he said, moving out from under Yamamoto’s arm.

“I think he meant what he said too, since I know I’ve seen him outside my window at least twice these past few days I’ve been at home.”

Gokudera growled. “That bastard, being a creepy stalker.”

“He’s probably worried,” Yamamoto placated, holding up his hands in a defense position when Gokudera bared his teeth at him. He turned to Tsuna instead. “We can go talk to him today if you want, Tsuna.”

Tsuna turned his smile onto Yamamoto, and nodded. “That sounds great, Takeshi.”

\--

The day went by quickly with no incidents, and Tsuna was glad for the peace. The past few weeks ever since Reborn had come into his life were hectic, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.

On the one hand, he now had more friends than he was used to. Even Lambo was being nice to him (that is, begging Tsuna to play and buy lollies). On the other hand though, it meant he got no peace and was often thrust into situations where he or someone else got hurt.

He shook himself out of his thoughts when he felt someone shake his shoulder, and his vision came back into focus to find Hana staring at him, worried. She had been worried ever since the shop incident, and Tsuna couldn’t blame her.

“Sawada, you okay?” she asked, voice sharp and concern barely hidden.

Tsuna blinked, then nodded. “Yeah! Sorry, what were you saying?” he asked, barely remembering what they were even doing.

Hana stared at him for a moment, then apparently decided against asking. The boy had been spacing out all lunch, she didn’t even think he noticed Kyoko had left halfway through to find her brother. “I was asking if you’re ready to start our sessions again today after school. The kid gave me your schedule, since apparently you’re training with Kyoko’s monkey brother, so I have you after school three days a week, and he has you two days a week,” she explained, her bento finished and sitting neatly on her lap.

“That much?” he whined, and Hana knew he was realizing how little free time he would have left. She felt a bit bad, but the baby had convinced her that this was for his benefit.

“Yes, and the kid told me to tell you to take it up with him if you want to complain,” she said, keeping her voice neutral. Tsuna was tired, she wondered if his head had healed completely yet, but she knew she would just get a dismissive answer if she asked. “Besides, he said this is important for your future as a mafia boss,” she paused, ignoring his mumbling of ‘of course he said that’. “And while I don’t know anything about the mafia, I agree with him to an extent. Think of this as punishment for not trying hard enough before.”

Tsuna stared at her, sighing after a moment. Hana had a vague idea that he already knew this but didn’t want to believe it, and as such told himself the opposite, which he tended to do. But she wasn’t going to be soft with him like Kyoko tended to be, especially if it would help him in the end. “Okay, fine,” he said, sounding defeated.

Hana felt for him, but tried not to show it. “Good, we’ll start after school today then. You need to catch up and I have all the notes you’ve missed,” she said, smiling slightly. “Now eat your lunch. I don’t want to have to force you to eat as well. You’re skinny enough as it is.”

That got Tsuna to laugh, a short yet genuine laugh, and she smiled back.

 

\--

 

Tsuna was walking to school the next day, lost in thought, when he felt someone watching him. Snapping out of his thoughts, he stopped in his tracks and glanced around. None of his friends were with him for the morning, he had somehow evaded Yamamoto and Gokudera, and Ryohei was walking his sister and Hana to school, so Tsuna had decided to take a different route to school to sort out his thoughts.

He frowned as he glanced around, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Shrugging, he decided it was just a feeling and kept walking.

After a few minutes, he felt it again, but this time the sound of a motorcycle accompanied the feeling. He turned around again only to find a woman on a motorbike riding up beside him. She stopped next to him, taking the helmet off to reveal washed-purple hair falling down to her hips, and eyes that reminded him so much of Gokudera’s.

He didn’t know who she was, but he got a bad feeling.

“It’s a hot day out,” she said, voice silky enough to rival Reborn’s fake sweet voice. She was laying it on quite thick, and he felt slightly insulted that she thought he was naïve enough to believe that. “I bought too many and a poor boy like you shouldn’t be dehydrated,” she continued, chucking a sports drink at him, watching him fumbling to catch it. “Think of it as a gift,” she winked, before putting her helmet on and riding off, Tsuna watching her go with a raised eyebrow.

Weird.

But he kept the drink with him, not opening it, and headed off to school. He’d deal with it later.

\---

“I ran into someone on the way to school today,” Tsuna said nonchalantly, a piece of chicken in his hand and the sports drink resting on his leg. “She was strange, and I think she tried to kill me.”

 _That_ got the attention of his friends. Hana and Gokudera both choked on their food, and Yamamoto’s eyes darkened. Kyoko, on the other hand, gasped and her eyes widened.

“S-Someone tried to kill you, Ten-Tsuna?” Gokudera asked, voice raspy from trying to clear his throat. Tsuna could see the dog beginning to feel a murderous rage come over him, and decided he should clear things up.

“Well she tried but- she didn’t succeed and honestly it wasn’t hard to guess,” he said, holding the can of drink up, still unopened. He knew Reborn was nearby too, and once he had the attention of his friends, he decided to test his theory. “She gave me this, and while I don’t know for sure if she meant to kill me but I know the basic rule of not taking things from strangers,” he explained, standing up and taking a few steps back.

“Wait Tsuna- are you sure you should try it if she tried to kill you with it?” Yamamoto asked, ready to launch himself forward if need be.

Tsuna shook his head, holding up a hand to keep his friends at bay. He noticed Hana and Gokudera tensing up and Kyoko’s worried gaze getting more worried. He cracked open the can, and almost instantly the smell of something off and toxic hit him, making him gag.

“Tsuna,” Yamamoto said, crouched with his hand on the concealed bat sitting on his back. Tsuna shook his head, trying to say he was okay.

He tipped the can upside down, and he was proven right as some acid fell out and onto the ground, sizzling into the concrete as it slowly disintegrated. He stood still, eyes wide despite knowing that it wasn’t safe, while his friends moved back to avoid getting splashed.

“What was…” Hana breathed, moving forward to examine it.

Tsuna dropped the can, shaking his head as he breathed out. With a cry from Gokudera, he found himself being grabbed by both his Familiars, knowing they were examining him to make sure he’s safe. “Guys-“

“That was acid, wasn’t it?” Kyoko asked, hands held in front of her and her fox ears twitching in response to what was probably fear.

“Poison,” Gokudera growled, pulling away from Tsuna and examining the acid with a sniff. “I know exactly who did this too. Did she have purple hair?” he asked, turning to his boss.

“Yeah, long purple hair and… she looked like you, Hayato,” Tsuna said, pulling his arm away from Yamamoto’s hands and turning to his other guardian. “Do you know her?”

Gokudera scoffed, but his eyes had hardened at the question, and suddenly Tsuna didn’t really want to know the answer. The way that Gokudera looked at the mention of poison had made him feel wary of this woman. “Unfortunately I do, Tenth,” the dog said, looking away. “I’m sorry- I didn’t know that she’d find you here. Although, I’m not sure why she tried to kill _you_.”

“I do,” Reborn’s voice called out, the baby dropping in from seemingly nowhere. “I ran into her a while ago, seems she’s here for me.”

Yamamoto blinked, tilting his head while Kyoko was the one to ask “she is? Why you, Reborn?”

Reborn turned to face the acid for a moment, then looked Tsuna in the eyes. Tsuna could see that the hitman was both worried and angry, but his face stayed neutral. “Because she’s my lover,” he said simply, in lieu of explanation. “Well, my fourth lover. And I suspect she wants to take me back to Italy with her.”

Tsuna stood still, his eyes wide. _Lover_? How would that- no, he didn’t even want to think about it. But too bad for him, because Reborn could apparently read his thoughts and smirked. “Well Useless Tsuna, when a man and a wom-“

“Nope-! That’s enough!” Tsuna yelped, grabbing the baby to quieten him, the shock of the situation having worn off slightly.

Yamamoto laughed heartily, apparently having taken everything in and felt that he didn’t need to worry as much for the time being. “Nice going kid, but I think Tsuna’s already had the talk.”

Tsuna hadn’t, but he didn’t feel that Yamamoto needed to know that.

“Still, she shouldn’t be here,” Gokudera said, his words sobering everyone up. “And if she’s going to kill the Tenth then she’s dangerous and needs to leave.”

Hana nodded, sitting beside Kyoko to try and make the girl feel better. “The idiot dog has a point,” the Summoner said, looking at Reborn. “Sawada is in danger from the sounds of things, and while he’s gotten better, if she’s an assassin then she’d be trained to kill. What are we going to do?”

“I’ll handle Bianchi for now,” Reborn said, settling himself into Tsuna’s arms in a show of affection. Well, as close to affection as he’ll get. “Keep doing what you’re doing, she’ll have to deal with me having to stay in Nami Mori for now, or she’ll have to leave.”

The four friends nodded, while Tsuna unconsciously tightened his hold on his tutor. He was worried, sure, but he wasn’t sure about what he could do about it.

\--

While the situation with Bianchi was disturbing, Tsuna trusted Reborn to handle it. He wasn’t sure why, but the expression on Reborn’s face when he explained what was happening gave Tsuna the feeling that the baby was taking it seriously.

The thought that Reborn was worried about _him_ made him happy. Especially since he wasn’t entirely sure that the baby even liked him.

For now though, he focused his attention on his teacher, who had mentioned something about a new student, which instantly made him wary. He hoped this was a genuine new student and not just another mafioso sent to kill him.

“… so help me welcome your new peer, Elysabeth Cansienne,” the teacher said, gesturing for whoever was outside the classroom to come in.

Once he had introduced her, the new student opened the door and walked in, head high and eyes coldly glancing about. She was a Familiar, if the black ears and black tail with a bandage around the tip were anything to go by. She had long black hair, reaching down past her waist and tied back in a high ponytail, a purple bow holding it up and bangs framing her face. She was pale, even more so than Gokudera, and the Nami-Mori school uniform fitting her well. But what Tsuna noticed the most were her eyes. One a dark indigo-blue while the other was a bright purple, it was odd.

She had apparently noticed him staring, as her eyes slid over to meet his, and the intimidation in that gaze was enough to make him avert his gaze.

“Hello, my name is Elyse,” she said after the teacher had finished writing her name on the board. “I’m from France but have lived in Italy all my life, I’d be happy to make some friends here,” she said, French accent quite visible to the ears when she spoke. A small smile appeared on her face as she spoke, but Tsuna noticed that it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Gokudera tensing again, and made a note to ask him about that later. He missed the teacher’s next comment, but it seemed to be just telling the new girl where she would sit.

\--

“Hayato, why did you tense earlier?” Tsuna asked, walking home between Yamamoto and Gokudera as both his guardians refused to let him be alone after what happened before school.

Gokudera huffed, one hand in his pocket and the other gripping the strap of his school bag. “It was nothing Tenth, I thought I knew her but now I’m not so sure.”

Yamamoto hummed in thought. “I noticed she was almost glaring at you Tsuna,” the baseball star commented, recalling what his sharp eyes had seen earlier. “Sorta like Hayato did when he first appeared, but hers was more subtle.”

“Oi! I didn’t give you permission to call me that!”

“You did! You did when you gave Tsuna permission!”

Tsuna sighed as his two guardians began arguing again, but stayed silent. He’d work it all out later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please please PLEASE leave comments and kudos! they help me with my work and inspire me to write more  
> let me know what you think and nay ideas you might have for future chapters and characters :D i love having discussions with readers about my work
> 
> tumblr - here-among-the-stars-is-home


	8. Cat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 'He wasn’t sure what to make of her, especially when she turned that piercing gaze on him instead, pupils in the shape of slits similar to a cat.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is kinda oc-centric and i'm sorry, but i really wanted to get her character right and show her off sort of because i'm quite proud of her! i hope ya'll like her  
> this is a short chapter too but i'm trying to write longer ones, i was also considering making chapter 10 a flashback chapter showing how tsuna, hana and kyoko became close friends if anyone is interested in that

The first week of school for Elyse had been strange to say the least.

Nami Mori was different to what she was used to. For one, almost all of the students were nice to her, despite her best efforts to come across as cold and unapproachable. The lessons were quite difficult and everyone around her was polite.

But she wasn’t complaining.

One such student who was especially polite to her was a girl named Kyoko – who, from her research, seemed to be the most popular girl in school. Elyse wasn’t sure what to make of Kyoko. The girl was nice enough, sure, but she might have an ulterior motive in mind. One that Elyse couldn’t be too careful of.

“Cansienne~!”

Speak of the devil.

Elyse looked up, spotting the short brown hair coming her way, fox ears twitching happily. She inwardly sighed, trying her best to keep a smile on her face. Despite how she wanted to act to keep people away, she found she couldn’t be mean to Kyoko, the girl was the literal embodiment of sunshine and Elyse felt a strange urge to protect her.

“Sasagawa,” the cat-girl said politely, leaning against her locker with her bag strapped across her shoulder. “I thought you left already.”

“Well, Hana had to go ahead and while I could have gone with my other friends, I wanted to wait for you!” Kyoko chirped, a smile on her face. Before Elyse could ask why, she continued. “You said you were new here right? I could see you were having trouble making friends, and wanted to ask if you wanted me to show you around. We could hang out together too.”

Oh. Well… She couldn’t really say no to that, could she? “I’m not-“ she cut herself off, unable to respond to the suggestion. “Okay, that sounds good. Thanks, Sasagawa. Maybe tomorrow.”

Kyoko laughed cheerily and Elyse found her mouth moving into a proper small smile at the sound. “Call me Kyoko, you’re my friend and friends call each other by their first names.”

Elyse nodded, turning to leave with a small wave. And that was that.

\---

“ _You’re busy today?”_ Tsuna’s voice whined through the phone, sounding genuinely upset at not being able to spend the day with her.

Kyoko giggled, knowing he probably had nothing to do with it being the weekend and Reborn being busy for once. “Sorry Tsu, I promised Elyse I’d show her around today,” she said, then paused as an idea came to her. “You should come with us! We’re only really going shopping, it’d be nice for her to have some more friends.”

_“Oh… Should I? She didn’t seem to really like me that much.”_

“Is that because she glared at you? As far as I know she’s doing that to everyone. I think she’s just lonely and doesn’t know how to make friends.”

Kyoko smiled when she heard Tsuna sigh, knowing she had already convinced him to come and he was really only trying to find an excuse not to. “ _Okay, okay,”_ he said eventually, probably unable to think of any reason not to. “ _But if she doesn’t like me I can’t really convince her to_ ,” the _I wouldn’t blame her_ was unspoken but it still made Kyoko’s heart ache to hear it.

“We’ll come by in an hour or so Tsu. Be ready then, okay?” she said, waiting for his affirmation before she hung up. Once she heard his reply, she hung up and stared at the phone for a moment, when a knock at the door broke her out of her thoughts.

\--

“Tsuna! Kyoko and her friend are here!” Nana’s voice drifted up from the kitchen, and Tsuna grimaced when he realized he had to go down. While he was ready physically, he wasn’t sure about mentally. He was still convinced the new girl hated him, and his experience with new students that hate him generally means they want to kill him. But Reborn wasn’t here to give him advice (read: a whack on the head) so he had to make his own decision.

Maybe he could convince her not to kill him like he did with Gokudera.

Mind made up, he headed downstairs, thankfully since it wasn’t a school day all of them would be in casual clothes. Tsuna always felt more comfortable in his own clothes.

“Morning Tsuna!” Kyoko chirped, meeting his gaze with a brilliant smile. She was dressed in a white blouse tucked into a high-waisted pink skirt that reached down to her knees. She had on her usual brown boots and her brown back strapped across her shoulder. He really had to appreciate how beautiful his best friend was, especially her taste in fashion.

Behind her stood the new girl, who stood about an inch or two taller than Kyoko and himself. Her long hair was tied back into a loose bun with strands falling out, her heterochromatic eyes glancing around the room as if she was taking it all in. She wore a black skirt sitting at her waist and sitting just above her knees with golden buttons, a purple singlet tucked into the skirt with a loose black crop tank over top. Like Kyoko, she wore brown boots but instead they had a slight heel to them, and were knee high with what looked like a white bandage underneath her right one peeking out over top. Her boots were laced up at the front too.

He wasn’t sure what to make of her, especially when she turned that piercing gaze on him instead, pupils in the shape of slits similar to a cat.

“Thank you Mrs Sawada,” she said, instead turning her gaze to Nana, her eyes softening as she smiled slightly.

Nana giggled. “Call me Nana, or mama. Mrs Sawada sounds too formal,” she said, waving a hand in front of her face dismissively. Tsuna gathered that his mum probably gave them some tea or something before he came down.

“Are you ready Tsuna?” Kyoko asked, turning to face him while tilting her head to the side.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go,” he said, looking at his mother before giving her a small hug. “Do you need anything while we’re out?”

He could see the smile Nana was giving him and fought the need to blush at it. He ignored her, waving when she said “no, you enjoy yourself” as he ushered Kyoko and Elyse out of his house. Both girls waited for him outside the gate as he put his shoes on and shut the door, and then flanked him on both sides as he walked down the road.

\---

Kyoko was a good guide, Elyse had found out.

The girl took her all around Nami Mori and showed her the most important places (or, according to both her and Tsuna).

And Tsuna… Elyse wasn’t sure what to make of him. He seemed to be afraid of her, which she was slightly glad for, and was quiet for a lot of the day. Kyoko often forced him to talk or make a decision, but otherwise he stayed as far away as he could.

“Oh!” Kyoko’s gasp snapped her out of her thoughts, and she looked up to find the girl stopped and staring at a cake in the window of the cake shop they were passing. “Oh, I need to go buy that cake for Haru. Tsu, Elyse, could you wait out here for me?” she asked, ducking into the shop before either of them could say anything.

“Kyoko-!” Tsuna cried, almost whiny, but he was too late. The girl had disappeared and probably wouldn’t be able to hear him, especially given how busy the shop seemed to be.

Elyse sighed, knowing this would happen. Or, at the very least she had a feeling that Kyoko would try something like this. “She’s gone,” she said simply, looking at the boy next to her. He shrunk back from her, creating space between them again.

“Then we’ll just… wait for her here,” he said, almost sadly, which she was offended by. “She probably won’t take long.”

“You have an issue with me,” she said, looking at him with her arms crossed. She watched him flinch, and knew it would be good to get this out the way, especially since she had a feeling Kyoko would want to stay as her friend. And while Elyse knew she’d have to kill the boy sooner or later, she would rather find out what his issue with her was.

Tsuna rubbed the back of his head, laughing nervously. “I don’t…” he trailed off, letting his hand drop to hold his arm against his chest. “Sorry. I just… The last new student who glared at me ended up trying to kill me, so I didn’t really trust you.”

Oh, that was what was wrong. At the back of her mind Elyse definitely felt for him, especially since he hit the nail right on the head with that statement, but she couldn’t offer much sympathy.

“Its… understandable,” she said, looking more at him than she was before. “Especially as the next Vongola Decimo, you’re going to make some enemies without realizing it.”

She watched as he tensed at that, most likely realizing who she was. “You’re mafia,” he said softly, eyes defensive and hands clenched in his pockets. She wondered if he knew exactly who she was, or if he only realized she was just an enemy.

“I am, I’m sorry to add to your suspicions,” she said, deciding that being truthful would be better than lying and making him trust her. “I didn’t want to become friends with Kyoko but she-“ she was cut off by someone coming up behind Tsuna. She realized almost too late that the man was sent to kill the boy, and with a cry of “watch out!” she grabbed Tsuna’s shoulder and yanked him forward, moving him out of the way of the knife, moving herself between the two and protecting him from the hit by taking it herself in the side, just below the ribs.

With a gasp, she stumbled back, before her reflexes kicked in and she maneuvered herself to stop him. Before he could react, she placed one hand on his chest and one leg out – flipping him over and slamming him into the ground with all the strength she could muster.

She stood there for a moment, panting heavily and her legs shaking. She was sure she’d look back on this moment later and curse herself for saving the boy she was meant to kill, but for now she could barely think. Her head felt like cotton and she could feel the world tilting dangerously.

“Are you-?” Tsuna’s voice shot through the fog, and she opened her eyes to look at him. She expected him to be angry, or indifferent, but all she could see was genuine worry. “Oh- you’re bleeding badly-“ he stammered, his hands on her shoulders as if to keep her steady. Behind him, she could see a crowd gathering, and a few people getting their phones out most likely to call an ambulance or the police, but all she could focus on was Tsuna’s worried gaze and warm hands.

She could feel his flames shining through and wondered if he was aware of them. Probably not, by the look of him. But it made her feel bad for even wanting to kill him.

“Hey-!” she heard Tsuna call out, but her eyes were already closing.

As she fell forward into oblivion, she uttered one last word. “Boss..”

\---

Tsuna wasn’t sure what happened after that. His mind blanked as his savior fell into his arms, her added weight, while not much, made him stumble back and do his best to hold them both upright. He could hear paramedics heading their way and he sunk to his knees, keeping his hold on her so she didn’t fall straight to the ground.

“Tsuna?” Kyoko’s voice rang out, and he looked up to find the fox-girl standing in front of them, eyes wide as she took in the scene. He couldn’t even imagine what was going through her head.

“Kyoko, it’s okay,” he said, feeling the blood from Elyse’s side already seeping through onto his hands and legs. “There’re ambulances on their way. She- she saved me.”

The other girl breathed, her entire body shaking. But instead of nodding, she knelt down next to him and looked at him. “I can’t heal her- not without Hana here. But I- we can try and stop the bleeding,” she said, taking her jacket off and wrapping it around the knife as best she could, her box of cake now forgotten.

Tsuna could see Kyoko was pale, very pale, and he felt his respect for her heighten even more than it was at the sight of her doing everything she could to save someone despite how scared she was.

They did what they could for her in the time they had. The crowd around them was mainly adults, who piped up with whatever help they could offer, and while it wasn’t much Tsuna still appreciated them regardless.

 _‘Why can I never have a normal day out?_ ’ the thought ran through his head bitterly as he sat still, thinking back on everything that had happened. He was so lost in his thoughts that he barely registered the paramedics approaching and moving Elyse away from him. He jolted awake, looking up at them and standing up with Kyoko’s help, Elyse’s blood still on his legs.

He watched them wheel her away on a stretcher, still somewhat out of it as Kyoko put her hand on his arm, and while she comforted him he still felt awful about what had happened.

But for now, all they could do was head to the hospital and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! sorry for the lack of reborn and other characters, but they'll be back next chapter!
> 
> comments and kudos are appreciated, and let me know what you think!
> 
> my tumblr is here-among-the-stars-is-home for those who want to scream at me :)

**Author's Note:**

> Please please please comment and leave kudos, it really fuels me to write more with comments as I get to hear what you guys think of the story.
> 
> Also leave me an ask on my tumblr begone-nathan or message me there if you wanna talk, I'm always open to new friends and conversations!


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